My Life in Rosewood - Senior Year
by potterjay92
Summary: Junior year of high school was an interesting year for Jessie Brant. This year she is determined not to get into another mess. It's senior year, she should be living her life with no complications, just sports and thinking about what comes after high school. Little does she know that she is going to get sucked into another mystery with her friends. How will she handle it this time?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there Liars! I'm back with a new PLL story.**

 **Whoever has kept up with Jessie's junior year in the previous story I hope you will start over with me in this new one.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **All credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think of the first chapter!**

* * *

This summer I'm working as a basketball/softball instructor at the Rosewood High. I got it about a week after school ended and it goes all the way to the end of July. Not only will that help keep me busy but I also need the extra money. So when Tori came to me to tell me that her dad was in charge and he needed an extra person and recommended me for the spot, I didn't hesitate to take it. I had also been offered to work with the kids at the camp that Mona had her party, but that would have set my anxiety on overload.

I'm barely home though since I have to balance that on top of working at the store. So my hands are pretty full, which I'm grateful for because it keeps my mind off of anything that reminds me of Mona. Also Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron are having their differences again. Ever since they found out about Mona being behind everything that the girls went through they started blaming themselves for not noticing things more and think this they're why I got grabbed. It has had them on edge ever since, so working and instructing kids are the only things keeping me out of the mess.

As for the girls, Aria is taking a photography class this summer. Emily went to another country to help build houses, which I'm hoping is keeping her mind off of Maya. Hanna has been keeping herself busy with Caleb doing who knows what, and Spencer is taking college classes at Hollis.

"Can I get a French vanilla small coffee and a bagel with cream cheese?" I ask the girl when I get to the front counter at the Brew one day after getting done at the high school.

I grab the money for it in my pocket and hand it to her. Then I stand to the side to wait for my order. It only takes about three minutes but when I look around to keep myself busy I see Andrew hanging over in the spot that me and him used to sit at, making three minutes feel like forever as my heart sinks. Then it sinks even more when I realize that he's with a girl. I feel my heart shatter all over again, like the night when he said we needed a break. I hoped that wouldn't have been the last thing we talked about but it was, and he hasn't bothered reaching out since.

I watch him as he laughs uncontrollably with this person I have never seen before. Then he looks over and his face goes slack and pale when he notices I'm standing here. I have no idea what to do. My mind is completely failing me right now.

"Here's your order." The girl says from behind the counter and I cannot be more grateful.

I turn to her and smile. "Thank you." Then I rush out as fast as I can.

I forgot that the point of going to the Brew was to meet up with Blake for a late lunch. So when I literally run into him halfway down the block he's shocked to see me in tears. "What's wrong?"

I take a deep breath and shake my head. "Nothing." I get out in between a sob.

"Jessie?"

I look back towards the Brew. "Andrew…" I look back to him, "He was at the Brew with some girl."

"Oh." He gives me a sad look. "Jessie, I'm sorry."

I shrug and wipe away a tear. "Not much I can do." I put on a brave face. "Can we hang out at your house instead?"

He slightly smiles and nods. "Yea, I just got my Playstation 3 fixed. Rematch at Call of Duty Black Ops?"

I half smile. "Why not."

A few days later it's Fourth of July. I made plans to close up the store early so that I can meet with Aria at the Brew. Then we'd meet with Spencer, the triplets and maybe Toby at the park. I think Hanna and Caleb will be meeting with us later. But before any of that I'm at the high school, showing the girls how to stop a ball from passing under their legs on the baseball/softball field.

"When someone hits a ground ball to you, whether in the infield or the outfield, you do the same thing." I bend down onto one of my knees and show them how I hold out my glove in front of me while my knee/leg helps block the ball getting through if it passes the glove. "Now watch it in fast mode." I look over at the guy standing at home plate who is helping me for the day. He's on the baseball team in school, so I know him. "Go ahead, Jared!"

He puts a thumbs up as I get myself in the ready position. Then he hits a grounder to me between first and second base. It goes a bit to my right so I shuffle a couples steps that way and then get onto my knee with my glove out like I showed them. It does a weird hop as it's getting to me and I have to bring my glove up to catch it as it bounces off my stomach. Yes, it did hurt. But I wasn't going to let ten year olds see that.

I see Jared's face cringe in pain as he watches that, but I just smile and look back to the kids as they cheer. "See? Simple right?"

After that long and exhausting time at the high school I grab a quick meal from the Brew, head over to the store, then as planned meet up with Aria and the others for the fireworks later. Despite the loudness of the booming from them I'm ready for bed. I'm so freaking tired.

"Ria!" I yell through the crowd as her and the triplets get separated from us after the fireworks show finished.

"Jessie!" I hear her yell back. "Meet us at the swings!"

I turn my head for a second to see if Spencer and Toby are still behind me when I feel my head slam into something in front of me. I almost fall backward and hands wrap around my arm.

I look up and my mouth drops. "Andrew."

He smiles at me. "Hey, Jessie."

"I…uhh. Sorry. Didn't see you there."

He shakes his head and slowly let's go of my arm, realizing that he's still holding onto me. "No worries."

It gets awkwardly quiet and I look at the others. They have the same expression of weirdness as me. "Well…" I start. "We gotta go."

"Wait." He says before I can scoot my way past him. "Can we meet up for coffee soon?"

I look at Spencer, who raises her eyebrows. Then I look back at him. "Y-Yea. Sure."

He smiles. "Great. How about Thursday? Brew?"

"I'm busy."

His eyes widen for a second, as if he just remembered something. "Your birthday!"

My face starts to turn super hot, "Yea, so maybe another time."

He nods, "How about Saturday."

I debate for a few seconds with myself on whether I want to get sucked into hanging with him, afraid of things being awkward. But then I nod. "Sounds good. I'll…text you a time?"

He nods. "Yea. Yea that's good. It'll be my treat." He gives me an awkward hug. "It was good to see you."

I half smile as we pull away. "Yea. Same here."

My seventeenth birthday wasn't as hyped up as I imagined. Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron weren't on good terms at all lately. They had been down each other's throats for awhile, having different views on things. Growing apart I guess you can say. But the biggest debate of the day was whether to invite Ezra. Not only because I invited Toby and Caleb, but because he's my friend too and I wanted him there. In the end I decided against it, not wanting my aunt and uncle to give glares to him for being around.

All in all, it wasn't too bad, but then it wasn't great either. We went to my favorite pizza place in Philly, but they had managed to find something to argue about despite being in a pizzeria with at least ten other guests around, which I couldn't take anymore so I asked if we could leave. In the end me and Ria just got in my car and met with our friends at the Brew instead.

Then Friday two weeks later it was Aria's birthday and decided to keep it simple. We celebrated with her family first at the house with a family dinner. They bickered a little, but they seemed determined not to have a repeat of my birthday. Then later we met with the others at an arcade in Philly, which was more enjoyable since we didn't have to worry about her parents having an argument. It's getting harder and harder to watch the two people in my life that I thought would never be this way turn back to how they were from the beginning of last year.

August comes and I occupy myself with the store and hanging out at home. Most of the time if I did get out of the house it was because Toby or Mike forced me whenever the girls weren't around to keep me busy. Ezra asked me a few times to meet with him for lunch or coffee to hang at the Brew. I've seen Bobby and some of my family a couple times so far because he went back to Jersey for the summer, so I took the opportunity to go since he won't be back till September. The triplets and a few of my basketball/softball friends I've seen on occasion throughout the summer because some of them got jobs.

Then there's Andrew…well after meeting at the Brew that day we've tried our best to keep as much contact as we could. It's not the same as it used to be but once in awhile we'll meet up to play a pickup game of basketball at the park. I'll have Mike tag along, but that's usually about it. We are trying to build up our not so stable friendship to what it used to be.

"Did you read that book I recommended to you?" Ezra asks.

I ran into him at the Brew on my first fully free day of summer vacation since Aria's birthday, which was at least two weeks ago. According to everyone I've been working myself practically to death, so Aria insisted I needed a break.

I look over at him from my phone, waiting to see if I'd gotten a reply from Aria about how I've been at the Brew waiting for her to meet up for an half hour. "Divergent?"

He nods. "Yea."

"Oh, not yet."

"Ah, Jessie. It's a great read."

"I know." I set my phone on the table. "I've heard it's pretty good. I've just been a bit busy."

He nods. "That's right, teaching those little ones sports and working."

I sit back on the sofa and take a sip of my coffee. "Exactly."

He smiles. "I'm glad you're getting back to things you love to do. I was worried for awhile."

"You're not the only one."

"Are you okay though?"

I watch him for a few seconds, then shrug. "I'm just trying to take it day by day. I can't say I don't still have nightmares or random flashbacks, but I think I'm a bit more mellowed out on reacting from certain things than I used to."

"Well that is definitely a start."

"That's what Dr. Sullivan says too."

After what happened with Mona, Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron wanted me to take sessions with Aria's old therapist. Most days it was just me, other times it was recommended by the doctor to involve Aria. A few times she suggested a group session with me and all four of the girls. She wanted me to see that I wasn't the only one struggling with what happened. I of course knew that I wasn't the only one, considering that I live with Aria and she would wake up from nightmares almost as frequently as I did. However, we all humored her on agreeing for group sessions, because I didn't need to be reassured and they didn't want to be there at all.

"How's everything going with her?"

I shrug. "It's fine."

"Just fine?"

"I mean, I guess it could be worse. I could have gone completely insane after what I went through and be in the mental hospital too."

"Well luckily it didn't come down to that." We hear Aria's voice.

I turn and see her standing in the opening of the corner space that the sofa and armchairs we are sitting at. "You're late."

She nods. "I know." She sits down in between me and Fitz, hugging me and kisses him. "Class ran later than I expected."

I nod. "No worries. I kept myself occupied."

"Yea I see that." She eyes me. "Stealing my boyfriend?"

I nod. "Yes. You caught me. That's exactly what I was doing." I say in a serious tone.

They both smile at me and laugh. "So what has my best friend and boyfriend been talking about?" She asks.

"Oh nothing really." Ezra says. "Just some embarrassing stories of your childhood." He takes a sip of his coffee, like what he said was no big deal. "Nothing too thrilling."

She looks at me in horror. "No you didn't."

I look at Ezra who winks and gives me the _Keep it going_ look. "Oh yea." I nod and turn my body more to her, tucking my foot under my other leg on the sofa. "Like how you used to call Spencer, Spen…"

"That's not embarrassing." She says as she interrupts me.

"Do you want me to elaborate more?"

"Nope." She says calmly. "Because I know you're lying."

"Am I?"

"Mhm." She looks at the girl who walks over and asks her for a latte.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because you tend to bounce your leg rapidly up and down when you do."

Now I'm aware that I'm moving and look down at my leg. Sure enough, it's bouncing up and down. "I do that all the time."

"No, you do it when you're nervous…or lying. Which I know the difference for."

"Oh really?" I raise my eyebrow. "Do tell."

She smiles. "When you're nervous you switch between shaking one of your legs, biting your cheeks or not keeping eye contact, sometimes even all at once. Now when you're lying it's just one of your legs."

"Well damn."

She laughs. "Nailed it."

"How long have I been doing that?"

"Since forever, but I'm the only one who has picked up on it."

"And now I know." Ezra says.

"Oh, fantastic."

They both laugh and then he stands, "Okay."Ezra says, stretching a bit. "So I have some things I need to take care of."

"And we have a date to see the new Harry Potter movie." I say pointing to myself and Aria.

He looks at us. "Deathly Hallows part 2?"

"Yep." We both say.

"Lucky. Let me know how that goes."

"Will do." Aria says and kisses him when he bends down.

He smiles "Have fun." He gives me a hug and then takes off.

I'll tell you now that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 was fantastic and burst my heart into a million pieces. My childhood has now officially ended.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone. Here's another chapter for you.**

 **It's a bit shorter than the last chapter, sorry for that.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Also, the next chapter is where it starts to pick up where the show starts in season three.**

* * *

 _"_ _I have a surprise for you." Mona's voice comes. "You're going to love it." She walks over to one of the tables and opens up a drawer to grab the black box. "What has a lot of eyes, eight legs and likes to web around?" She opens the box._

 _"_ _Mm-mm, mm-mm!" I hear myself._

 _"_ _That's right." She sticks her hand into the box and pulls it out. "A tarantula!" She places it on my lap and it starts to make its way to my body._

 _"_ _Mmmmmm!"_

 _She smiles. "Aw it likes you."_

 _"_ _Mmmm…hmmm." I start to cry._

 _She cracks up. "Bet you won't whine again will you, Jessie?"_

"No!" I sit up, feeling my heart race.

"Jessie?"

"Get it off me!" I start to hit my body and arms in fear of the spider still being on me. Then I hear footsteps and someone sits next to me on the bed. "I won't whine anymore."

"Jessie." Someone's hand grabs mine. "Hey." His soft voice echoes in my ears.

I watch our hands, my breathing is getting really fast for me to control but I manage to get myself to look up from them and I see the blue eyes of…"T-Toby?"

Toby and Spencer got back together after the night that Mona kidnapped me and was revealed as the stalker _A_. It happened to be that Toby being Jenna's lapdog again was because he was trying to get answers to why Spencer was acting so weird and broke up with him for Wren, so he made it seem like he went back to his old ways. Which Spencer doing what she did was a cover up the whole time to keep Toby safe from _A_ …Mona. She didn't want him getting involved so she lied about Wren. Little did she know that he was doing his own hunting to get to the bottom of what was going on.

"Are you okay?" He asks with concerned eyes.

I'm still trying to collect myself and get my breathing back to normal. I look around and see that I'm still in Spencer's room. Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron are not doing the greatest and had been fighting when I was at home. So since I was by myself in the house because Aria was at Ezra's and Mike had gone out, I needed to get out of there. I was tired of listening to them so I decided to take a walk and ended up at Spencer's. But before I fell asleep it was just me and her. Now Toby is here and Spencer is nowhere to be found.

"Where…" I get a little choked up.

"It's okay. Breathe."

I take a deep breath. "Where is Spencer? And when did you get here?"

He slightly smiles. "Spencer went to pick up pizza. She didn't want to wake you, and didn't want you to wake up by yourself so she asked me to stay. As for when I got here. I made a surprise visit and didn't know that she was hanging out with you."

I feel a random tickle on my arm and practically jump out of my skin. I feel him grab me before I fall off the bed. "No more spiders."

"Jessie." He says. "There's no spiders." He's right of course, there's nothing there. But I can still feel it crawling on me.

I start to look around the bed, shaking a bit and rub my arms out of habit of wanting the spider feeling to go away. "Sorry." I say and look back at him.

He shakes his head. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I know what happened."

I nod. "I know." I take another breath, finally calming myself down. "It's still hard."

"I could imagine. But remember that everything is okay. You're safe."

I turn away from him and look into the mirror in the corner of Spencer's room. I watch myself for a little, and even though I can't see them I know the scars she left that remind me of that day are still there. The black eye, cut lip, bruised ribs and lines on my wrists from the tape are all gone. But the graze on my ear and the gash marks from her nails are faded enough to only be noticeable to see when standing next to me, while the injury from the crowbar around my eyebrow is a visible scar. Even the mental scars are still with me and I feel overwhelmed every time I think about it.

"Jess." I look at him and see him smiling.

"What?"

"Would you rather jump out of an airplane or bungee jump?"

I half laugh. "Neither, cause that's crazy."

This has been his way of keeping my mind off of things that bother me. He tries to get me to focus on something else and his best way to do so is to play Would You Rather.

"Yea." He laughs. "I agree."

"You know Spence is lucky to have you."

He starts blushing. "I think I'm the lucky one."

I smile. "How cute."

He laughs, then his eyes soften, "I'm sorry that Andrew was stupid enough to leave you."

My heart sinks a bit, but I shrug. "His lose."

He smiles and nods. "Yes it is."

We go for about ten more minutes of him keeping me calm by asking me random questions. I'm really glad he's able to keep my mind off of that dream, because it's itching in the back of my mind and I'm about ready to have a panic attack.

Then footsteps come from the hallway and Spencer walks in. "Hey, you're up."

I look over and smile. "Yea."

"Playing Would You Rather?" We both nod and her face gets suspicious. "What happened?"

I look at Toby, who gives me a nod. "I had a nightmare. But I'm fine."

"You sure?"

I nod. "Yea, Tobs helped."

She looks at him and smiles. "Aren't you a great friend."

He leans in and kisses her. "Of course."

She looks back at me. "So you guys want to come down and eat?"

We both look at each other and then back at her. "Duh."

She laughs. "Good, cause I'm hungry."

So we all get up and head straight down to the kitchen.

A couple weeks later I'm at the sports store, Luna started helping me out a couple days a week this summer because they are always as busy as the school year. She gave me days that she can help and naturally I started paying her because she basically works as an employee when she's there.

You're probably wondering why I don't just hire someone to help me out full time like my dad did. Well we are pretty different in store owning. He had two jobs and needed someone to help. Plus I'm stubborn and just rather do things on my own even when I need the help. It's just easier for me to rely on myself and not have to worry if whoever I have with me is doing the job right. Also during the school year most of the kids are too busy with school to bother with jobs anyway. But as I said, I rather just do it on my own. If a few times a week someone wants to help, then great.

Today is one of the days she isn't available to work though, so I'm there by myself as the rush of people coming in and out for supplies throughout the day is a tad overwhelming to keep up with. So by the time ten rolls around I'm feeling exhausted and so relieved that it's finally time to close up.

I put the money away in the safe and make sure everything is in order around the store. Then I hear a knock on the front door and whirl around in panic for a second as it scared the hell out of me.

"Jessie!" I hear my name as Blake knocks on the glass door.

I smile and walk over, turning off the light as I open it. "Hey." I turn and lock the door behind me.

"I was on my way back from the Brew and saw the light still on. Can I walk you home?"

"That's sweet, but I drove."

"Oh…right. Duh."

I laugh. "It's okay."

"How about a walk over to the playground?"

I smile and nod. "Yea, sure."

We start to walk and head over to the swings when we get there.

"So how was work today?"

"Exhausting." I sit on the swing and start to swing back and forth, feeling the wind in my face.

"Not so high. May break your neck."

I look at him as I slow down and slightly smile. "I used to beat your ass at the jump all the time."

"Did not."

I laugh. "Care to prove me wrong?"

He smiles. "You're on." He puts down the bag and coffee he got from the Brew and sits in the swing beside me.

We both start to swing, getting higher and higher. "On three." I say.

"One…" He starts.

"Two…" I continue.

"Three!" We both shout and rocket out of the swings.

Neither of us made it passed the other. We realize quickly that the last time we did this last summer we were both shorter, lighter in weight and had more experience. We haven't done this in awhile. Meaning we made it halfway less than we used to and roll into each other.

"Ow!" I laugh as my head ends up next to his body and the stars look down on me. "That didn't go according to plan."

He sits up and looks down at me, rubbing the back of his head. "Yea…that really hurt."

"Agreed." I sit up. "We are getting too old for that apparently."

He smiles and looks up at the stars. "Their beautiful aren't they?"

I stare up and nod. "Yea." I take a deep breath as I feel the light breeze go through my lunges, watching the stars with a smile as they twinkle in the night sky. "You'd never get this type of view from Jersey. There's more lighting where I lived there than here."

I see him turn to me from the corner of my eye. For a few seconds I don't pay mind to it, but then I turn to him and see him looking at me straight into my eyes and smiles. The lamp that is above us in the park makes his blond hair and green eyes more noticeable. Then he leans forward so quickly that I don't even have time to react as he kisses me.

My heart sinks for a second in surprise, but then I relax and close my eyes. I put my hand on the back of his neck and kiss him back. Until I see Andrew's face in my head and I pull away. "Blake. I…" I shake my head.

He watches me with sad eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"No…no, don't be sorry. I'm just not…"

"Ready." He nods. "I know. I wasn't thinking." He stands up. "Come on." He holds out his hand. "I'll walk you to your car."

I take it and he helps me to my feet. As we walk I can't help but think of the kiss. I can't say it was a bad kiss, but I can't say that I'm ready to jump into anything just yet. It's only been a few months, and I still love Andrew. I mean, there is no sign to get back together because he just wants to be friends. I have to respect that it seems he's moved on and that I should probably do the same. I guess it's a good sign that I was able to kiss back…right?


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Let me know what you guys think of this chapter!**

* * *

Labor Day is this weekend, which means school starts soon. I'm not so thrilled about going back though. Seeing all the kids that still like to point out things that happened as if we don't know about it whenever they see us is getting really annoying. But until then I'm enjoying the summer.

I haven't told anyone about the kiss with Blake from last week just yet. I'm trying to figure out how my feelings for that are before I say anything. At the moment though my mind is a little occupied because I can't believe it's been five months since what happened with Mona. It amazes me that I've managed to finally cope with it. I still have to sleep with the light on and have my nightmares, but now when I wake up I know it's only a dream. Sometimes I still wake up screaming, but when that happens Aria is always there to calm me down.

Do me and Aria still need to sleep in the same bed? No. We got over that stage back in April, weeks after everything happened. The only time it gets to that point is if one of us wakes up from a nightmare that freaks us out really bad. What about my panic attacks you ask? They come and go. Luckily with the anxiety medication Wren gave me I'm able to control it a bit more easily. Unless when it's something really bad then it can have its moments of being hard.

Tonight I have plans with the girls. Spencer is having a sleepover at her house while her parents and Melissa are gone for the night. She asked if I wanted to join them and said that there are no boys allowed. It made me feel great considering I don't have a boyfriend anymore and they do, minus Em obviously.

"How's Em?" I ask while me and Aria are getting ready to leave. "She came back today right?"

Aria nods as she grabs a few things. "She did. I don't know how she is though. We'll see when we get to Spencer's."

I'll tell you now that she's not doing the greatest. We are drinking and she's over doing it a bit. She's practically drinking the whole thing of what she brought in a flask.

As for me, I can't say that I specifically limited myself on how much I'm drinking, but I can say that I haven't drank as much as I usually do. I did drink enough though that I'm feeling really nice and let slip about Blake just after Hanna compared that Em had a better summer since she built homes for people in need.

"You what!" All the girls half yell when I said I kissed him.

"Crap."

"Details!" Hanna yells.

I half laugh and tell them exactly what happen.

"Awwww." They all say.

I start turning red and shake my head. "I still love Andrew though. I wasn't ready for that."

They all give me a bit of a sad look. "It'll take time." Spencer says. "But at least it's a start."

I half smile and slowly nod. "I guess." Then I grab another beer from the pack I brought and look over towards Em, who is in the middle of pouring a lot of liquor into her cup.

"Whoa. Carful, Em." Aria says. "It's already pretty strong."

"Maybe for you. You're a pixie." She says. "I've gotten really good at this." She takes a big sip out of her cup.

I look at the others as we watch her drink even more. She's already wasted but that doesn't stop her from continuing. The poor girl went through so much and now she's copping by drinking.

"We should really take that away from here." I whisper to Aria beside me on the couch.

She shakes her head. "Just let her do what she needs to."

"How come when I was grieving you'd have a fit when I drank?" I drink a mouthful of beer.

"Because you used to lose your temper and would throw your fists around when you over did it."

"Oh…right." I chug down the whole beer without even realizing it and grab another one.

"Speaking of over doing it." She watches me as if I just made her point or something. She hates when I drink like that. I don't even notice when I do it anymore. "You look like you're seeing double."

"I'm not seeing double, I'm fine."

"Last time you told me that you threw up by the tree in front of Hanna's house on our way home from the triplet's house a couple weekends ago."

"Ria, I'm okay. I've been drinking the beer I brought. It's not as strong as whatever you guys are drinking. Plus I'm not drinking a fast as I usually do." I realize what I said and recover. "Except for that random chug, I won't do that again."

"Not that we are drinking much of it considering Em is hogging it." Spencer whispers from the other side of me before Aria can start an argument with me.

We're hanging in Spencer's living room. Me, her and Aria are on one couch while Hanna and Em are on the second couch across from us.

Their phones all ring at the same time and they roll their eyes as they look. " _Show me your boobs. -A_ " Spencer reads it sarcastically.

They've been getting random unknown texts from probably anyone around town who thinks the situation with Mona is funny. I have as well, but it's not as much as them.

"Does Mona have a ten year old brother." Aria says as she puts her phone away.

" _A_ for annoying." Em says, her eyes dazed a bit.

"Is it ever going to stop." Hanna asks.

"Eventually we'll be old news." Spencer says.

"Yea." Aria says. "Then Garrett will go on trial, and we'll become news again."

Garrett Reynolds is a Rosewood cop that is suspected of killing Ali and Maya. He was friends with Ian, happened to date Jenna at one point, and was a thing with Melissa before he got arrested sometime before the night of the Masquerade Ball.

"Or Mona will start talking. And we'll become news again." Aria continues.

I've managed to stop jumping whenever I hear Mona's name. It still affects me by having my heart rate go up, but I try not to let it show. Usually I'm able to make myself think of something happy to counter the name seeming toxic to me and it helps calm me down. It was what Dr. Sullivan had me do and it seems to be working.

"Or I'll show someone my boobs and we'll be news again." Emily slurs her words and takes a sip of her drink.

"Okay!" Spencer yells as she grabs the flask from her and we all laugh. "I think you've had enough."

"Uh, hey, I thought this was a party?" She reaches out her hand and wiggles her fingers to indicating she wants the flask back.

"You know what. You're right, Em." Hanna says. "Welcome back." She raises her cup and we all do the same.

"You're never allowed to leave for the entire summer again." Aria says.

"To making it to Senior year." Spencer says and we clap our cups together.

"Not all of us made it." Em says.

We give her a sad look. "I'm sorry, Em." Spencer says. "I didn't mean it like that."

Emily gives a sad look, "To Maya."

It gets quiet for a second. "Em, you know that we're here for you." Hanna says, putting a hand to her leg. She doesn't react so Hanna adds. "To Maya."

"To Maya." We all say.

My phone buzzes. I take it out and see that an unknown number sent a photo shopped picture of my head on someone else's body that was tied up. I slam it onto my lap and take a deep breath. Normally if I got something from someone it was pictures of spiders or them trying to freak me out by saying stuff like Mona will get me for turning her in, or being mean and saying I'm a wimp. But getting this type of text? That was definitely new.

"What happened?" Aria asks.

"Nada." I put my head in my hands, trying to block it out as I watch my phone.

I see Spencer's hand grab my phone from my legs but I don't even bother to argue. "Oh my God." She says. "That is sick."

I start to shake as I close my eyes and a memory of her slapping a piece of tape comes to mind. Then I feel a hand on my back. "Why do they think this is funny?" I open my eyes and look at Aria when I notice it's her hand on me. "How is being kidnapped funny to anyone? Mona could have killed me."

"Because people are cruel." Em says.

I look at her and wipe away a tear that slips down my face.

"You need some sleep." Spencer tells me. "You've had more to drink than you think. You look like you're going to pass out."

"I'm fine." They give me a look and I just give in. "Okay." I add as Spencer gets up so that I can curl up on the couch we are sitting on.

"Come on." Aria says tapping her legs. "Close your eyes." She has a slight smile. I lay my head on her legs and don't hesitate to shut my eyes. My head is spinning a bit because I clearly did drink too much. But I manage to knock out in about a minute.

The good thing is that if I dreamed I don't remember them. Bad news is that sleeping didn't last long as I hear the faint noise of running steps. It wakes me up so when I open my eyes I see Emily and Spencer rushing back into the living room from the back door. Emily looks dazed and Spencer is staring out the window. Then she starts pacing the room, freaking out.

"Are you sure you don't remember how you got there?"

"Yes, Spencer." Emily says.

"And you don't remember who called you?" I watch her walk over to the coffee machine in the kitchen.

Em shakes her head. "No. I already told you that."

"What's going on?" I sit up from the couch and rub my eyes.

Spencer jumps and turns to me, fear in her eyes. "Shit, Jessie. I forgot you were here."

I raise an eyebrow. "Thanks?" I lean over towards the coffee table to grab my glasses. I realize it's a bit farther to my right than it had been before 'cause there's a sleeping bag on the floor.

"Sorry. I mean…you know what. I'll explain in a minute. Em, take all of your clothes off."

My eyes widen. "Is this some type of new game?"

"Jessie, give me a minute."

"Everything?" Emily asks, unbuttoning her shirt.

"Everything." Spencer says.

Emily has a sad look and starts taking off her pants.

"What the hell is going on? Where's Aria and Hanna."

"Jessie!" Spencer yells. "Give me a minute!"

I jump and watch her as there is clear fear in her eyes. But all I can think of is Mona when she yelled at me like that and I do everything in my power not to let that memory swarm me.

"Sorry." She says, realizing how loud she got with me and sits by my side. "We are going to go to my lake house."

"But it's late."

"I know. It's hard to explain."

"But…"

"Jessie, please. Just grab your stuff and go to my car." She holds out her keys. "Wait for us. We'll explain everything on the way."

"Um…okay." I grab the keys from her, get my sneakers on and then head outside after grabbing my string bag from the hall. I don't think I'm going to like what she is going to tell me when she explains.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **All credit belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**

* * *

 _RING! RING!_

The sound of an old fashioned phone comes to my ears, jerking me awake. I have my head resting up against the back cushion of the sofa and lift it up, rubbing my eyes in exhaustion. One of my arms is still around Aria's shoulders from last night when she had been laying up against me before we both knocked out. But when the ringing comes she sits up as it wakes her up too.

"Hello?"

My blurry vision comes but I'm able to see Spencer at the phone in her lake house. The others are sitting on the couch and armchair, watching her.

"Were there…any witnesses?" It gets quiet. "No…mom I understand." She gets quiet again. "Okay. Bye." She turns to us when she gets off the phone and starts to walk over. "The caretaker called it in this morning. The place is crawling with reporters, but the police don't have any leads."

Before I go more into that conversation I'll tell you that someone went into the cemetery last night and dug up Alison's body. Yea, you heard right. Someone unburied a dead Alison DiLaurentis. How gross is that? But to top it off, someone brought a drunk Emily to the burial spot and basically threw a shovel in her hands to frame her. The girls went looking for her while I was sleeping and when they found her she didn't remember how she got there. They realized it was a trap when they saw that someone called Em from Spencer's phone while she was asleep and got out of there as fast as they could. Being here at the lake house is a cover up…naturally.

Last night while Spencer drove us over to her lake house I was told what happened, of course I was freaked out. I mean, someone dug up a dead body and then tried to pin the blame on my friends, who have gone through enough for a lifetime. Wouldn't you be scared if you knew someone was out to get your friends….again.

My first question asked after they told me was, "Who could have done this?"

"We don't know." Aria answers from the back seat, making me turn around in the passenger's seat to look at her.

She looked so terrified that I was about ready to jump back there to give her a hug. As a matter of fact, Em and Hanna looked just as scared. Emily a bit more dazed out because she was still drunk.

"It's not Mona though, right?" My breathing was getting a little frantic thinking she could have gotten out.

"Mona is in Radley. So no." Spencer tells me.

Coming back to the present, Aria gives me my glasses and I watch them all talk for awhile without really hearing a word they're saying. I can't believe I'm getting into their mess again. Last time that happened I almost got killed. If they tell me to stay out of it this time I'm listening.

"Okay." Spencer says when she sits down on another armchair, getting my attention back. "We got up here yesterday afternoon. We roasted marshmallows. We all talked about how fun senior year's gonna be and we went to bed early."

"Em?" Hanna looks to her right to look at Emily on the sofa.

She looks at us. "I understand." She says and nods. "Last night never happened."

I look at all of the girls in disbelief as Spencer and Hanna are nodding in encouragement about what she said. Aria on the other hand has her mouth hanging open, looking away from them and into the distance. She doesn't even look at me as she gets dazed out and looks scared.

I shake my head in frustration. "Last night never happened?" I say and they all look at me. "Are you guys seriously going to start this all over again? Telling lies and not telling adults. That bit you in the ass last time."

"What else do you want us to do? How can we explain what happened without getting ourselves in trouble for ditching the site." Hanna asks.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you split and buried the freaking shovel."

"Jessie…" Hanna starts.

"No." I shake my head. "I've had it with the lies. Last time I kept your secret I got kidnapped by a lunatic."

"Whose fault is that?" Spencer says.

Not only does my face drop in shock, but the girls all give her a look. Spencer's face softens as soon as she realizes what she said.

"Wow, Spencer. Thanks." I say in sarcastically mad tone.

"Jessie, I…"

"You're right. It is my fault."

"No, Jessie, I didn't mean that."

"But you know what?" I say in an attitude, not even bothering to let her explain. "I will not make that mistake again."

"You can't say anything." Emily says quietly, trying to hold back tears.

"Watch me."

"If you tell you'll be considered obstructing justice for lying too." Spencer says.

"On your orders!" I yell, now pissed off. "I have nothing to do with this."

"You have everything to do with this as much as us if you tell that we lied, because you split too." Spencer continues.

I shake my head. "I can't believe you, Spencer." I get up and storm to the door. "You guys better not get me into anymore blackmailing business just because you won't say anything." I open the door and slam it behind me.

I'm not sure why I walked out since I can't go anywhere without them. Spencer was the one who drove so she's my ride home. So my only thought is to go over to the lake and sit on the dock. I sit down at the end of it and hang my legs over the edge. The sun makes the water twinkle as I stare down into my reflection. Looking back is me of course, but I look exhausted. Tends to happen when I'm around their nonstop drama it seems. How are they always in the middle of something that gets them into trouble? I get Mona was crazy and took out her anger on them but she's not around. Why is this starting all over again? Who is trying to get them caught doing something they had nothing to do with?

I sit in that spot for awhile, just dangling my legs over the water and kicking them back and forth like I'm a little kid. I watch the horizon in a daze, not paying attention to anything in particular. All I can do is think about this whole mess. If I hadn't fallen asleep I could have kept Emily from wondering off. Why did I drink so much?

I close my eyes as I lean back onto my hands and take a deep breath of the fresh air. It's starting to get hot now and the heat of the sun hitting my face triggers a memory that I haven't thought of in I don't know how long.

 _"_ _No, Mona, please don't."_

 _"_ _Or, I could take this and burn your face off just like Two Face from Batman."_

 _"_ _No!" I yell, "What the hell!"_

 _She smiles. "Jackpot."_

 _"_ _Mona." I say as calmly as I can. "Stop."_

 _She presses the button to the torch and it lights up. It's so close to my face that I can just feel the heat._

 _"_ _Mona! Don't, please don't."_

 _She smiles and starts to raise it up and down._

"Jessie."

I slowly open my eyes as I hear someone call my name, my breathing starts to rapid a bit. Then a hand goes onto my shoulder and I flinch so bad that I lean to the side and almost fall off the deck.

"Whoa!" Hands grab my arm and keep me from heading head first into the lake. "It's okay."

I'm shaking a bit as I look to the side and see Emily. "Thanks." I take a deep breath and watch her sit next to me, crossing her legs.

"You okay?" She watches me in concern, which I hate because I should be the one looking at her in concern after what happened last night.

I nod. "I'm fine." I raise my eyebrows. "Are _you_ okay?"

She half smiles and shrugs. "No, but I can't really do anything about not remembering what happened." She looks out to the water. "What got you so freaked?"

I turn to the water myself, taking another breath. "The uh…the sun burning my face reminded me of the torch Mona had to my face that night." I see her look at me from the corner of my eye. "The memory flashed in my head."

"When was the last time you had a flashback?"

"Last night when I got that text from whoever was messing around with us, but this was the first one I've had in a few weeks that I full out freaked from."

"What about the nightmares?"

"That I woke up screaming from or just had?"

"Both."

"Waking up screaming was last week. Not waking up screaming, a few days ago."

"You want to talk about it?"

I shake my head, still looking to the water. "Seems silly to talk about this when you're going through a lot more than I am."

She touches my arm and I look at her. "It'll help keep my mind off of everything."

I watch her as she waits patiently for me to start. Eventually I just shrug. "I don't really know what to say, Em."

"Just tell me what you are thinking right now."

I shake my head in frustration, not really knowing how to even start. "I just…" I think for a few seconds, "I don't know how to handle it anymore." I shift my eyes to looking down at the deck. "I got kidnapped and have to deal with the nightmares, flashbacks and being scared to go outside half the time. How do I get passed that?" I look back at her.

We stare at each other for a few seconds. I see she's struggling a bit with an answer, but she never takes her eyes off me. "Well..." She finally says. "I think you are doing a good job. I emailed the girls a few times throughout the summer and I asked how you were when I felt you were holding something back from me whenever we talked."

"Didn't trust me I see." I half smile.

She slightly smiles back, "After what happened I had a feeling you weren't doing the best." I didn't answer that so she adds, "Aria told me that it was obvious that you were struggling with everything, but that you did your best not to show it. That you would go out whenever someone asked even if you didn't want to. I'm proud of you, because even though you are having a hard time you are putting the effort to keep your life normal."

I half smile. "Normal in Rosewood is still not normal."

She laughs. "True."

I smile a bit and look away. Making it get silent for a few seconds as we watch the water.

"I'm sorry that I tried to convince you to stay quiet for us." She gets out.

I shrug, not taking my eyes off the horizon. "I shouldn't have acted like that. You're my friends. I wouldn't throw you under the bus."

"Maybe, but it still wasn't right of us to get you involved. Spencer certainly had no right blaming you the way she did about getting kidnapped."

"She was frustrated."

"She was being mean."

"She's mean when she's scared. But I won't say anything. I promise."

She shakes her head. "I don't want you getting hurt again because of us."

"You guys are my best friends. I'd jump in front of a bullet for you. I literally almost died for you guys."

I see her watching me, but I can't bring my eyes away from where I'm looking. Not until I feel her hand go to my chin and turns it to her. Her eyes are watering a bit. "We didn't tell you what was going on for you to get kidnapped and almost killed for it. That was our problem. You were not supposed to get involved that deeply."

I grab her hand from my chin and hold onto it as I set my hand back onto the deck. "It's my fault that it happened. Spencer wasn't wrong about that. I made you guys keep me updated and that was obviously enough to piss Mona off. If I hadn't begged to be part of the search I wouldn't have been in that mess."

"Don't you dare blame yourself, or justify Spencer's action to make it seem like it was. Just because you are our friend does not mean you should risk your life for us."

"Em, you'd all do the same for me." I watch her for a second. "You _have_ done it for me. All of you have. Every time you guys tried to keep me away from what was going on was you literally risking your own lives to keep me safe, to keep a lot of people safe."

She watches me for a second, her breathing getting a little fast. "Not enough for Maya."

"Emily…" I open and close my mouth a couple times. "I'm…I'm sorry about Maya. I wish I could make your pain go away. I get how you feel and I want to say that you will feel better soon. But I don't want to lie to you, it's going to take awhile, but you will get through it."

She looks away, her eyes still watering. Then she takes her shoes off and lowers herself into the lake.

"Em. You have your clothes on."

She shrugs. "I can never stay away from the water. You know that."

I laugh a bit and nod. Then without me even having time to react she grabs my feet and pulls me right in too. As pissed as I was that she did this I'm glad she's able to find a way to still have fun and keep her mind off of things.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hope you guys are liking the story so far. Here's another chapter for you.**

 **I do not own PLL. Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Who's pumped for season seven coming back in a couple weeks?!**

* * *

After we get back to Rosewood everyone goes to do their own things. Hanna and Spencer both head to hang out with their moms so they can help get their minds off of everything that is going on. I'm surprised Veronica is doing that and not too worked up in her job. Emily goes home to unpack, and Aria is going to Ezra's. She offers for me to join but I don't want to interrupt a possible boyfriend/girlfriend time. Since I have nothing else to do I just take my mind off of things by heading over to the store.

My mind is so occupied through the whole drive. All I can think about is why would someone dig up Alison? Just for the fun of trying to make the girls look sketchy if they were discovered at the cemetery? Who would do that? Who would be sick enough to put a family that buried their daughter a year ago through this. If it was my choice I'd say Mona, but we all know that she has been locked up in the crazy house since she got arrested.

When I pull up to the front of the store I see Toby walking past it. He seems a little distracted as he has his head down, nose almost fully close to the screen of his phone. I lower down the window and lean my hand onto the passenger's seat. "Tobs!"

He jumps a bit and turns to my car, a smile comes to his face right away. "Hey!" He walks over and rests his arms through the open window. "What's up?"

I shrug. "Nothin too much. Just got back from Spencer's lake house, thought I'd open up the store today."

"Oh that's right, Spencer told me you were at the lake house with them."

I nod. "Yep."

"So I guess you already heard the news from the girls."

My heart sinks, but I nod as much as I can without making it obvious that I know more than he does. "About someone taking Alison's body from the cemetery?"

He nods, scrunching his face in disgust. "How sick is that?"

"Totally demented." I say as calmly as I can. The thought of someone digging her up is not something I want to think about. I mean, I didn't like the girl for sure but to do something as low as that is completely nuts. Then again…it seems like a routine for people who target the girls to be insane.

It gets quiet for a few seconds as I turn off my car and get out. Then I walk over to him and he seems like he's in a very deep thought process as he watches me in what looks like concern. "What? I raise my eyebrow.

He slightly smiles, "Nothing, got lost in my head for a second."

"Anything interesting up there?" I laugh a bit.

He laughs, "Just was thinking that maybe we can hang out?"

I'm pretty sure that wasn't really what he was thinking, but I didn't want to push it. So I start to tell him that I'd love to but that I decided to open up the store. Then I think more because after last night I'm kind of iffy about being by myself. "Actually do you mind helping me out for a bit?"

"With what?"

"I have a lot to do today for the store. Maybe you could be behind the counter while I get some things done in the office? I'll even pay you."

He shakes his head as he looks down at me with his soft blue eyes. "No need to pay me, Jess."

"Trust me you don't want to do this job for free in this town. People are crazy and you'll want some type of satisfaction when you're done to why you did this."

He smiles and laughs. "Don't need to tell me that people are crazy. I've lived here my whole life."

I nod. "Yea I feel ya. Why are we still here?"

He shrugs. "Who knows? I've had plenty of opportunities to leave. You did leave and yet you came back."

"Wasn't my choice, but I hated being away from my friends anyway. Probably would have come back eventually."

He half smiles and nods. "Understandable."

"Soooo…"

He raises his eyebrows, as if asking me a question.

"Will you help me?"

He laughs and nods. "Of course."

"Yessss!" I hug him. "You are the best."

He starts laughing and I feel his stomach on my chest as it shakes. I always forget how much taller he is than me. "Okay." He pulls away and looks down at me, "So let's get this chaos started. Shall we?"

I smile. "We shall." And we walk over to the front door.

He helps me for about three hours. Him ringing peoples things while I do what I need in the office. A few times I have to run out to help with difficult costumers, or to help order things that they need that I don't have. I'm literally running around all over the place, which isn't anything new by now. I'm almost about ready to pass out though when Toby knocks on the door to the office.

"Jessie?"

I look up from the notepad I'm writing down things I need to order as I rub one of my eyes with the palm of my hand under my glasses, trying to hold back a yawn that doesn't work. I must look like a zombie. I sure as hell feel like one. I mean, I drink almost the whole twelve pack of beer on my own not knowing the girls were drinking their own stuff and probably getting a couple hours sleep at Spencer's. Then I got barely anymore sleep at the lake house as I tried to not only keep myself calm but the girls too as they were freaking about someone trying to frame them. I think that's enough for anyone to be as exhausted as I am right now.

I look over at him, "Yea?"

"I need to head to Spencer's."

I look at the time and see it's around six. "Oh that's right. I forgot Spence had plans with you today."

He starts laughing. "I wouldn't call it plans. I need to use her shower because I'm still renovating the loft and the pluming isn't working yet."

The owner of the Brew offered Toby free rent to the loft above it if he repaired it himself. He took that deal wanting so badly to get out of his dad's and stepmom's house, and away from Jenna. So for awhile he's been going to Spencer's to use their shower. Not that she seems to have a problem with seeing her boyfriend's six pack abs as he walks out dripping wet all the time. Or so I'm told.

"Right. That's what I meant." I yawn again.

"Maybe you should call it a day. You're clearly exhausted. You weren't supposed to be open today. No one will be surprised if you close up early."

I nod, rubbing my eyes. "Yea, maybe I'll do that. I just got some more things I have to do before I actually leave."

He walks over. "Okay. If you say so."

"I do."

He smiles and walks around the desk, leaning down for a hug. "Don't work yourself to death."

"Do I ever?"

He nods. "Yep."

I laugh. "Yea…just a bit."

He gives me another hug. "I'll talk to you later."

I watch him walk out the door of the office, footsteps in the hall, then the front door slamming behind him. I stretch and get up to give my legs some exercise. I go to the front door and lock it, changing the sign to closed. I clean up a bit, turn off the main lights and then head back to the office.

For awhile I'm online ordering the items I need for the store. Back and forth my eyes dart from the computer to the book on the desk. I'm not sure how long I've been doing this for, but it feels like forever. All I know is that one minute my eyes are glued to the computer screen and the next I'm dreaming again about the night Mona took me.

 _"_ _You ruined my plans you know." Mona's voice comes while standing at the trunk of her car in that black hoodie._

 _"_ _I think I need a doctor." I hear myself say weakly._

 _"_ _You should have minded your own business."_

 _"_ _What are you talking about?"_

 _"_ _Always asking questions and wanting to be part of the search."_

 _"_ _Who are you? Where's Bobby?"_

 _She turns to me but her face is blocked out. "How about you stop asking so many questions?" That's when she walks closer and bends down to clean off my head injury._

 _"_ _Thank you."_

 _"_ _Don't thank me just yet. You have no idea what I have in store for you."_

 _The sound of the tape being ripped open comes after she puts the cloth away and picks it up by her feet._

 _"_ _What are you doing?" She grabs my hand and goes to put the sticky part onto my wrist. "Stop!" I pull my hand away as hard and fast as I can._

 _She falls, I get up and then take off. I get five steps in and then feel her tackle me from behind._

 _"_ _Nice try Jessie. But not good enough."_

"Help!" I yell just as I wake up in panic. Sweat is dripping down my face and I'm breathing really fast. I can't catch my breath for a few seconds as my chest tightens up, Mona's last words echoing in my brain. Then I see a small figure run into the room and scares the hell out of me.

"Jessie, you okay?" Aria says out of breath and what sounds like fear in her voice as she walks over to me.

I watch her as she comes over to the desk and kneels beside me. She puts her hand on my knee and I have to take a few deep breaths before I can get anything out. "W-What are you doing here?"

She watches me for a second as I take another breath, concern written all over her face. "I was at Ezra's and saw your car in front of the store. The door was locked but I could see the light from the office through the glass door, so I used the spare."

"Oh." My eyes shift around the room for a second.

"Jessie." I look at her and I probably have fear in my eyes because she looks really concerned, like as bad as she used to be after I got taken. "Your nightmares are getting bad again aren't they?"

"They've…" I take a breath. "They've always been bad."

She shakes her head. "No, they've been getting better. But you just woke up not realizing that it was just a dream. You thought it was real, I saw your face."

I take off my glasses and wipe off the sweat that's dripping over my eyes. "I'm fine."

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that I had a nightmare today?"

My eyebrows go up. She stopped having nightmares way before I was able to wake up without always having panic attacks. So that's a bit shocking to hear. "What?" I say in disbelief as I put my glasses back on.

"I think yesterday triggered them again. It happened while at Ezra's."

I swallow so hard that she hears it. "This is ridiculous."

"What is?"

"That someone dug up Alison and tried to make you guys look guilty."

She gives me a look like she doesn't like that I changed the subject, but goes with it. "It's over now. So don't think about it. No one saw us. Everything is going to be fine."

"Is it?"

She smiles and nods. "Yes." She stands up. "Come on. Let's go home."

Home doesn't really feel like home anymore. I honestly have gotten to the point where I dread walking into this house now. It's not the same anymore, because my aunt and uncle have gotten so much worse. We thought last year was bad? Oh no. This definitely tops last year's arguments. I swear every time I walk inside I'm not sure what I'm going to see. Sometimes I find Uncle Byron hanging in his car because Aunt Ella locked him out of the house. Sometimes Aunt Ella won't come back for hours after an argument. They don't sleep in the same bed anymore. He sleeps on the sofa in the family room and she is in their bedroom. It's very hard to watch them fall apart. Today I'm happy to find that they were not home at all. Sad thing to be happy about, but what other thoughts do I have left? Their marriage is basically broken.

Me and Aria go straight upstairs after grabbing some food from the kitchen. We both agree that we don't want to be down here whenever her parents decide to come back and keep ourselves busy by watching some movies on Netflix. Sadly, that lasts maybe half of the movie before we hear the door slamming downstairs.

We are on the floor with the laptop connected to my TV. She's sitting up against her bed with my head lying on her lap as I watch the movie. She has her arm resting on me and I feel her thumb rub the bottom part of my back, as if trying to keep herself busy. "Guess they are home. So much for piece and quiet."

I turn my head to look up at her, she isn't even looking at me. "You okay?"

Her eyes sadden a bit, but she doesn't say anything.

I watch her for a few seconds, "Ria."

"I'm fine." She says in a barely audible tone of voice. "Just ignore it."

Then we hear yelling from downstairs and a crashing sound of glass. I'm still looking up at her as her eyes start to water. I shift my body so that I can get up and sit beside her, pulling her closer to me. She rests her head onto mine as I lean in and bursts into tears.

"It's okay." I say as I do everything I can not to break down too.

I'll tell you right now that it wasn't okay. Her mom wouldn't come out of her room all night and Uncle Byron took off. He didn't come back till the next morning. This is getting harder and harder for us to have hopes of getting better.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not own PLL.** **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review!**

* * *

It's senior registration week, which means we have to head over to school to get ourselves signed in for the new school year and get our schedules. I'm not feeling it as I lazily roll out of bed and shuffle my feet over to the bathroom. Shockingly I woke up about ten minutes before Aria's alarm is meant to go off. Normally Aria is the one to wake up first and if we are going to school together she'll turn mine off and wake me up when she's done.

After we get ready we head off to the school and it's pretty packed, so we head to one of the lines we feel is the shortest and wait for our turn to go. Then not too long later Spencer catches up with us and starts asking how everything at home is. Sadly, Uncle Byron and Aunt Ella decided to get divorced, so it's been a bit iffy. I hate that it got to this point but they have been so detached with each other lately that it didn't even feel like we were a family anymore.

Eventually changing the subject Aria starts talking about how it's still weird for her family to process Ezra still being in her life. Aunt Ella is a little more open minded about it than Uncle Byron is though. Not completely opening arms to Ezra just yet but she doesn't cringe every time his name is mentioned.

"I mean, even saying his name we get sucked into this vortex of awkwardness." She says while she's looking at the piece of paper we were given at the front door. Then she looks up at Spencer. "And my dad gets all red and then his face pinches up like he's constipated." We start to laugh and then she looks at me."Right?"

I nod in the middle of me laughing and get out. "Yea, it's kind of funny to watch."

"So basically Ezra is like Lord Voldemort." Spencer laughs.

I look up from my phone and look over at her on Aria's other side. "That was a great comparison."

She smiles and then looks at Hanna as she comes into view next to her.

"Hey." Hanna says.

"Hey." Spencer says back and then sees Lucas passing us. "Hey, Lucas."

He turns and stares at us. He has this look evil like he has no desire to talk to us, or maybe just them, ever again. It's kind of sad though, because he used to be so close to Hanna and talks to me enough to consider us friends. I don't know what happened between her and him but it's enough that he turns and walks away.

"He knows something." Aria says.

Apparently her and Hanna spotted Lucas hanging around Rosewood in the middle of the night sometime after Spencer brought Emily back from the cemetery. They found this suspicious because of everything starting again. Every little thing bugs them now, and since they had witnessing him with Jenna and Black Swan the night of the Masquerade it has them on edge.

I don't want to get sucked into this whole mystery of who dug her up though. I've had enough excitement for one year, so I stick my headphones on my head and over my ears. I blast the music enough that I can only see their mouths moving but no sound as I listen to Panic at the Disco's I Write Sins not Tragedies. But after a couple minutes I feel a hand go to my shoulder and I look. Aria's asking me a question but I can't hear her.

I take my headphones off one of my ears. "Hm?"

"Have you talked to Em recently?"

I shake my head. "No, why?"

"None of us have heard or seen her since yesterday." Hanna says. "We are worried."

"Hope she's okay." Aria says as I'm the next one to get called for registrations.

We walk over to hang out in the courtyard after everything is settled to wait for Aria to get back from the bathroom. Em never showed up so it's just me and them three the whole time we are at the school. But we don't make it to the courtyard together because Blake shows up and ends up ask me if we can talk. Hanna and Spencer watch me and I'm practically begging them not to leave me, but of course they probably think I should give him a chance and decide to leave to give us space, taking off towards the bathroom.

I give him a slight smile when I turn away from the direction the girls went, feeling out of place as I head over to a table in the courtyard with him following behind me. It's very awkward for a few minutes because neither of us say anything. I'm not even making eye contact because I have no idea what to make of this situation. Then whenever he looks at me it makes me melt as I watch his green eyes stare into my green eyes. It makes me feel guilty every time and I don't want to feel that way.

But eventually we both know we have to talk so he starts the convo with a weird, "So..."

I finally look at him and have nothing else to say besides, "So."

"How you been?"

"Fine." I shrug. "You?"

He nods. "Fine." It gets silent again for about a minute. Then he says. "I just wanted to say that I don't want what happened to affect our friendship."

Of course I saw that coming but I couldn't really answer that right away. "It won't." Is all I can think of.

"You sure?"

I smile and nod. "Positive. We are very good friends. I wouldn't change that over this." Which is true, I don't want this to change our friendship. But I know it may feel weird at times.

He smiles and then looks over my head. "Okay." He gets up. "I have to go, but I'll see you soon." He puts out his fist.

I nod and smile. "Yep." I return the fist bump and then he walks away.

When he disappears I get up and rush over to the bathroom. I can't believe they left me to go through that awkwardness. So when I get there I push through the door and see that they are in a group hug, Aria is in tears.

I stop in my tracks, worry going through me. "What happened?"

They pull away and watch me for a second, "She thought she saw _A_ , had a panic attack." Spencer says.

I give her a sad look and walk closer. "You okay?"

She half smiles and wipes a tear that slips down her face. "Yea."

"Wanna go home?"

She nods.

I smile. "Good, me too."

Home isn't any better though. We are both helping her mom pack some things so she can take it to her new apartment. She decided that she would move out again. I don't know why she has to be the one always to move out but she seems happier about it than me, Mike or Aria. It was hard enough when they split last year and it wasn't anything official, but this time it is. They are actually on different paths and don't want to be together anymore. They are basically another version of parents to me and I have to watch them get divorced and maybe one day get with other people, which totally sucks.

"Aw, you gave this to me for Mother's Day." Aunt Ella says about a decorated picture frame of Aria as a kid.

Aria smiles and I walk closer to look. "You were so cute." I look at her. "What happened?"

She smiles as I walk back to her. "Asshole." Then she shoves me.

"Love you!" She smiles and laughs as I look at my watch. "Crap. I forgot that I told Mike I'd meet him at the basketball court. You guys cool doing this on your own?"

They both nod and I take off to our room to get dressed. I get on my basketball shorts and slip on the Rosewood basketball shirt I always wear for practice. Then I leave to meet with Mike. But sadly that doesn't last too long as I play with him and some of his friends (even Andrew was invited) for about forty-five minutes, then I get a call from Aunt Ella. I rush over when I hear my phone from my string bag and am shocked to hear her worried voice as she asks to come back home.

"I gotta go." I say when I get off.

"Already?" Andrew says, seeming a bit upset.

"Yea. My aunt is asking me to come home. Seems urgent."

"Just you?" Mike asks.

"Yea, probably girls stuff. Don't worry." I smile. "I'll see you guys later."

I get in my car and head back home, the sound in her voice has me super nervous but I try not to think too much into it. When I get there I see a cop car in front of the house and my heart sinks. I turn off the engine, bolting out of the car and into the house. Aria is coming down from the second floor with Aunt Ella, and a cop is sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"What's going on?" I ask when they reach the bottom.

Aria shrugs in confusion but Aunt Ella says. "The cops want to talk to you two at the police station."

"Does this have to do with…with Mona?" I get out as my heart starts to race.

"No." the cop says from the couch and gets up. "This has to do about the missing body of Alison DiLaurentis."

I give Aria a look, hoping I didn't give away that we know something. I try to stay calm but my heart is racing faster. It feels like it's going to come out of my chest.

When we get to the police station the other girls are there…naturally. Only difference is that Emily's missing, which I find weird because she was involved that night too. I mean she's technically the one who got everyone into this mess. But you'd never hear me telling her that.

They all have the same scared look on their faces as me. I look at Aria. She seems not to know how to react as we walk over to stand with Spencer and Hanna. Then in no time we get pulled away a couple at a time to an interrogation room. Lucky for us me and Spencer are the first to be called in.

I sit in the metal seat for awhile as I wait for someone to walk in. The thought of sitting in a cold metal chair sets my anxiety on high, but I do my best to hold it together. I don't like the dullness of this room, or knowing that there is a two way mirror right across from me. I'm pretty sure I'm being watched at this moment and it freaks me out.

Finally the door opens and a man walks in. "Hello, Jessie." He sits down and smiles. "I'm Detective Spelling."

I half smile. "Am I in trouble for something?"

He shakes his head and smiles. "No, no. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about the night Alison's body got dug up."

"Okay?"

"I know that you were with the four girls that were once very close to her."

"Uh,..yea."

"Very close friends to them aren't you."

"I grew up with Aria and Spencer. Emily and Hanna are recently new friends from the past couple years."

"And why is that?"

I slant my eyebrows in confusion. "I don't get the question."

"Why were Hanna Marin and Emily Fields recent friends." He says.

"Because I was living in New Jersey for awhile and when I came back I had classes with them. Before I moved I just never really got around to knowing them."

"I see." He writes some things down. "And they all just happen to be the same girls who get in the middle of every strange thing that has happened in this town for the last year."

I shrug, "I guess." Not really sure how else to answer this.

He slowly nods. "So what did you guys do the day of the grave being dug up?"

My heart starts to race. "We went to Spencer's lake house."

"And did what?"

"We hung out."

"More specific."

I watch him for a few seconds. _Don't fuck up_. I think to myself. "Well, Emily wasn't around this summer so we talked about how our summer was going and what we did. She did the same and then we gushed over our last year of high school." Technically I was telling the truth. We did do this, just not at the lake house.

He writes some things down then watches me again. "You aren't covering for them are you Jessie?" he asks this so calmly it's as if he's having a normal conversation with a friend, yet you can tell that he has his cop voice on. I don't like it.

My heart skips a beat. "Why would you ask that?"

He shrugs and smiles. "Oh, I don't know." He has a little sarcasm in his voice now. "Maybe because they saved your life from Mona Vanderwaal last school year and you may feel like you owe them."

I take a deep breath, trying not to let any memories swarm my brain. "I'm not covering for them."

He nods. "Okay." He smiles. "You can go."

I get up and walk out of the interrogation room. Hanna and Spencer are both standing up against the wall when I get out. Someone asks Hanna to follow her and I see a look of worry in her eyes as she passes me. I probably look really freaked out because Spencer pulls me to her before I can get passed her to the bathroom.

"What happened."

"Nada."

"Jessie, I know they asked you about that night. Please tell me you stuck with what we planned." She whispers.

"Yea, yea I did. I'm gonna probably go to hell for that."

She gives me a sad look. "I'm sorry. I should have told you to go home instead of dragging you along that night. But I knew your aunt and uncle would have gotten suspicious if you went back and Aria wasn't with you."

I nod. "I know."

When we get outside their parents and Aunt Ella are waiting for us. But the weirdest thing is that Ezra's here too, and he's talking to Aunt Ella. Me and Aria give each other a weird look, as if saying _Uh oh_ and walk over to them.

"Are you guys alright?" She asks. "Do I need to talk to them?"

Ezra makes eye contact with me and smiles as he moves a bit closer. "No." Aria says. "We are fine. Just want to get out of here." She looks at me and I nod in agreement.

"Well we could still make our reservation. "Ezra says to Aria.

Aunt Ella looks at me with an awkward face and I smile. I know she feels awkward still but when she sees that I'm calm around him it sometimes makes her feel better.

"Or we can do this another time?" He adds.

Aria hesitates and looks at her mom, seeming to debate something. "I'm sure we can all use a bite, right?"

Her mom hesitates and is stunned for a second. But Aria gives her a reassuring smile, so she says. "Yes, um…let's go." Then she reaches out and grabs my arm, halling me away with her.

I look behind me, trying not to laugh as I give them both a look. They smile at me and Aria puts her arm between his as they follow behind us.


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own PLL. All credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Who can't wait till the summer premiere of season seven!?**

 **Thanks to anyone who has continued on Jessie's crazy journey. Please review and let me know who you think!**

* * *

It's the middle of the day but I'm so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open while reading the Divergent book Ezra had told me about since I couldn't sleep last night. I was too busy freaking out about that interview and all I could think was what if they find out that we lied? I allowed the girls to suck me into this and I lied right to a cop's face about where we were. I mean, I wasn't at the cemetery, but the fact I know about it they could make me just as responsible.

Since I was so worked up about it and couldn't sleep I was pretty tired most of the day, eventually falling asleep reading. My dreams are filled of good ones for once. No Mona, no spiders, no being tied to a chair. It's about the day I first learned to ride a skateboard. Dad and Uncle Byron took me, Jeff, Mike and Aria to the park. I had to have been around ten when I got one, and I'll tell you that it was not a very good start to figuring it out.

 _"_ _Ow!" Ten year old me yells when one of the wheels to the skateboard rolled over a rock, making me fall off and scrapping my elbow and knees in the concrete of the park._

 _Dad runs over and kneels down beside me. "Are you okay Jellybean?" he helps me sit up and looks at my bleeding scrapes, my jeans on both knees are ripped open._

 _I shake my head, tears sliding down my face. "It hurts daddy."_

 _He places his hands around my back and bottom part of my legs and stands. "Okay, okay. Deep breaths." He starts to walk to the car. "Going to fix you up."_

 _Aria had run over to us when she saw me fall. So when she catches up she has my board in her arms, placing it inside the car when dad opens the door to have me sit on the seat. "Ewwww." She says when she sees all the blood gushing out._

 _I look at her, trying to keep my breathing under control from crying. It hurt really bad. "Not helping, Aria."_

 _She gives me a slight smile, "Sorry."_

 _"_ _Hold still okay?" dad says as he grabs a spray from the first aid kit. "It's going to sting."_

 _I close my eyes, readying myself for the pain as he sprays it on the cuts. "Ay!" tears fill in my eyes again, "It really hurts!"_

 _"_ _Esta bien." He says, "It's okay." He says again, "Who's my brave girl?"_

 _I smile a bit and wipe away the tears. "I am."_

"Jessie." I hear a soft girl's voice and a slight shake on my arm.

I slowly open my eyes and see Aria sitting on the edge of my bed. "Hey." I say a bit groggy as I sit up and rub my eyes.

"Hey. Sorry to wake you up."

I smile, shaking my head. "No worries. What's up?"

"Well…" She has a look that worries me.

"What?" I say panicked.

"Spence needs to show us something."

"Okay?" I yawn.

"At the motel Mona's lair was."

My heart sinks to my stomach. I swear it feels like it'll never come back up _. Puppies, friends, family, art._ I think to myself to keep from thinking of Mona in that way. Then I say, "Y-You're expecting me to g-go back there?" I feel a little lightheaded just thinking about it.

She watches me for a second, her eyes turning into worried. "I know it's not the ideal thing to do, but she says it's important. She'd never tell you to go unless it was."

After lots of persuasion she gets me out of bed and we meet the others in Spencer's car. Clearly they knew Aria was the best person to convince me to go. So they just stayed in the car. I'm shocked to see that Emily is with them since she's been MIA lately.

"Hey, Em." I hug her when I get inside. "Everything okay?"

She smiles at me and nods. "Yea. What about you?"

"You mean besides the wanting to throw up feeling I have at the fact that I have to go to the hellhole I was in for who knows how many hours when I was kidnapped?" I say this so fast that I'm out of breath.

She half smiles. "Yes."

"Then I'm fantastic."

We get to the motel that her lair was in called the Lost Woods Resort. Spencer still has Mona's key to the room so she opens the door to it and walks in, Hanna and Emily following behind her. Aria starts to walk too, but then she stops and turns when she sees that I'm not following them.

I'm still standing at the car, shaking a bit in fear and trying to keep my breathing in check. "I can't go in there." I shake my head in protest.

She walks over to me, putting her hands on both my shoulders to calm me down. I have to bend down a lot more than I used to since I grew through the summer and now she's even shorter, but that doesn't bother her as she doesn't hesitate to look me straight in the eyes. "It's okay."

My knees are shaking so bad I feel like I'm going to collapse. So I straighten up and have to lean against the car to make sure I don't topple over. "I can't go through this again."

"Jessie, I promise it's empty."

I'm still shaking my head in refusing to listen when Emily walks back out, wondering what's going on. "We'll be right in." Aria tells her when she calls for us. I can see the concerned look on her face just as she turns back towards the opened door and walks back into the room.

After a lot…and I mean A LOT of pleading with me, I finally take a deep breath and allow her to grab my hand to drag me inside. Spencer is taking out her laptop as we walk through and sets it onto a little table in the middle of the room. Then she sits down on the chair in front of it, opening the laptop. While she does what she needs to do I start to look around a bit. The place isn't creeping me out as much as it probably should have because it isn't the same. It's daylight and it really is completely empty, like it never happened.

I hear the clicking sound of the computer as I turn back and see Spencer press on some software thing. Then a creepy image of a replication of Mona's lair pops up, which makes my heart race. "Ali's shrine was right over there." Spencer says as she points to the wall by a window behind us where all of Alison's creepy head pictures were that night.

She gets up and goes on telling us exactly where everything was the night that me and her were here. I honestly barely remember where any of the stuff was, probably because of all the drugs. All I remember is that it was creepy as hell. But Spencer being Spencer always remembers detail.

"O-Okay." Emily says. "You've been coming back here all summer trying to remember the room. Why?"

I nod in agreement. I'm just as confused about this as she is. But the other's don't seem as concerned, more like scared.

Spencer looks at the others and says. "We need to tell them the truth."

They all take turns telling us what they've clearly been hiding from us. That the day after everything happened they came back here, which we both knew that because they told us that they cleaned this place out. That's why it's empty. Apparently though, that wasn't what happened. When they came back the room was already empty. Every trace of evidence that put Mona in this place or made her _A_ was wiped clean.

"So you lied to us." I say a bit pissed.

"We were trying to protect you." Hanna says, "You guys went through a lot the night before, we didn't want to make it worse."

"And as we started to see you guys struggle to get better it got harder and harder to bring it up." Aria adds.

Me and Em look at each other for a few seconds, then she turns away from me and says, "So who took it?"

"Well." Spencer says. "There are things that don't add up. Like Mona was with you the day _A_ gave Emily that massage." She says pointing to Hanna. "And there's no way that she could have gotten Ian's body out of the bell tower by herself."

"Wait." Aria says. "So you're saying that you think someone was helping her?"

My heart sinks and my stomach does a flip. I do not like the sound of this at all and now feel sick.

Spencer bends down and presses the computer again. This time the Black Swan costume pops up. "If the Black Swan wasn't guilty of something then why would she run from you guys?"

In shock I look around and I realize that Spencer had been sitting on the metal chair that Mona tied me to. I feel my heart start to race as Hanna says something barely audible for me to process. Then I turn away from the chair when I hear a beeping sound of a car alarm from outside and the girls run towards it. My mistake is not following, because my gaze goes to the bathroom that she threw me into that night instead.

Images start to pop into my head right away. All the memories fast paced. It starts when I got hit across the face to getting dragged through the alley. When I got tackled to the ground and she tied and gagged me up with tape. Then the flame from the torch, the knife and the spider all swarm me.

My vision starts to blur and I don't even realize that I'm hyperventilating until I start to fall to the floor out of breath. I try to grab something, but all I'm able to reach for is the metal chair. It slips from my body weight quickly falling and my knees collide with the wooden floor. I somehow manage to drag myself over to one of the walls, but my vision's almost completely gone now. I'm definitely having a panic attack. I haven't had one this bad since it happened.

"Jessie?" My ears feel like they popped, so I faintly hear the voice. When I look over I see Hanna walk into the room. She looks over at me and in a panicked voice shrieks "Jessie!" Her voice is louder this time as she runs over and slides to the floor right beside me. "What happened?"

I take deep breaths. "I…uh." It hurts to breath, "I…"

The other girls burst into the room and see me on the floor with Hanna. The looks on their faces is alarming as Aria runs over to me. "What's wrong?" She asks, fear in her eyes.

"I'm fine." I say as I try to catch my breath, "I just…" I take another breath. "The sight of the bathroom and that chair triggered too much at once."

They all look at it and I see Spencer's mouth drop a bit. "Oh my God. I was sitting in that the whole time?"

"I don't get it." Emily says.

"That's the chair Mona had Jessie in the night she grabbed her." Spencer says when she turns back to me. Her face gets pale, like she is going to be sick. "I didn't even realize it." She leans forward and rubs my arm. "I'm sorry we brought you here, but we all needed to talk. And..."

"You thought it would help if I faced my fear." I say after another painful breath.

She nods, her eyes saddening. "I'm sorry."

Once I'm calm enough they help me up and we waste no time getting out of here. Not only am I freaking out, but so are they. They saw exactly how the lair looked because of Spencer replicating it on her computer, and it was just as scary as the day I saw it.

Luckily I'm feeling better on the way back home. I lay my head on Aria's shoulder because I'm sitting in between her and Emily. I feel her rest her head on top of my head and I'm almost positive she falls asleep like that, because I know I sure as hell do.

When we get back to town I need nothing more than to get my mind off of what I just went through. So as always my only and best option is to go to the store. The girls think this is unhealthy to always open up the store when I don't need to just because it gives me something to do. But I rather do that than be home thinking too much.

"Come on Jessie." Spencer says when she pulls up in front. "School starts in less than a week. You promised you wouldn't work this last week or two. It's bad enough you opened up the day we got back from the lake house, but now today too?"

"I just need something to do."

"Then go play video games like a normal teenager does." She says. "Working yourself to death isn't going to do you any good."

I watch her for a few seconds, the others nodding in agreement. "Think of it like this. Luna needs the hours, she's low on cash. I'd be doing her a favor by opening up today." They don't answer, "Plus it's what my dad would expect of me to do to get this store at its best."

Their faces go slack from shock of my random thought, and then turn into sadness. "Your dad would want you to be a kid." Aria says from beside me. "Not a workaholic."

It gets quiet for a second. I know it's more because they are really worried about me and rather me go home. I had a bad incident once after a major flashback that had me close to ending my own life after what happened. I know they would never want me to get like that again. "Look." I start, "If you guys are worried that I'm going to do something stupid just because I had a really bad flashback today then you are welcome to stay." I watch them all, "Which for the record, I wouldn't do something stupid. Not after all the effort I've put into getting my life back." I shift my body to turn to Aria and she gets the hint that I want to get out.

"Fine." She says, opening the door and gets out. "I'll stay with you."

"Me too." Emily says from behind me and jumps out of the car too from the other side. "I don't have anything else to do today."

I get out of the car and turn to Hanna and Spencer. "Anyone else?"

They both look at each other, half smiling. "I would, but I have plans with Toby." Spencer says.

"And I have to help my mom with a few things." Hanna gets in. "But I think they can handle it from here." She adds, pointing to both Em and Aria.

I smile, "Okay. Then we'll see you guys later." I close the car door and then walk over to the front door of the store as I text Luna to see if she wants her hours for today.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey Liars! Season seven started today! What did you guys think of it?**

 **Anyways, here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not own or take credit for Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Review and let me know what you think please!**

* * *

School. I think that just about sums up what today is all about. How exciting…NOT!. It's Wednesday on the first full week of school and I could not sleep last night. The whole night I had watched the time slowly tick by till Aria's alarm goes off twenty minutes before mine does. She snoozes it, goes back to sleep and then turns it off completely when it goes off again ten minutes later like she always does. I don't know how she can do that. I usually snooze it a whole bunch of times if she doesn't turn it off for me.

She stretches and yawns, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion as she sits up and turns to the side, dangling her legs over the edge of her bed. She looks at me and I turn to look up at the ceiling to make it seem like I wasn't watching. "You okay?" She asks.

I don't answer right away as I continue to watch the ceiling, "Can I be homeschooled?"

I hear her feet hit the floor and she walks over to me. "No, because then you'll miss me too much."

I half laugh. "You're right about that."

She sits on my bed, turning off the alarm on my phone for me. "Why the sudden thinking of wanting to be homeschooled?"

I look at her and shrug. "I'm just getting tired of watching everyone stare at me like I'm an idiot for getting myself kidnapped."

"You're not an idiot." I look back up to the ceiling as she adds. "They are the idiots for thinking that it's easy to get away from something like that."

"Have you seen how much shorter Mona is to me? Plus I play sports. I should have been able to overpower her."

"Except that she hit you across the face with a crowbar and knocked you out. By the time you came too you weren't strong enough to do anything." She puts her hand on my arm and I look at her. "Stop blaming yourself. Don't let them get to you. Do you see any of us letting the other kids in Rosewood scare us away from school?"

I shake my head. "No."

"Then you shouldn't either." She stands. "Okay?"

I sit up and nod. "Yea."

Aunt Ella is our English teacher again this year. So as she passes out paper she starts to talk about the book we read this summer. "The author goes to great lengths to establish Hedda Gabler as a strong proud woman…" Do I have any idea what she's talking about? No, not really. I barely remember anything about the book. But I still do my best to pay attention.

This year I'm sitting in the same row in the same classroom as last year by the windows. The only difference is that I'm in the second to last seat that Em used to be in rather than the last one. Aria is in the same seat and row as last time, so I'm sitting right next to her instead of a bit behind. Spencer is sitting in front of Aria, while Em is in the seat right next to Aria in the next row. Hanna is either late or doesn't have this class with us because I haven't seen her yet.

Aunt Ella places the paper on my desk, getting me out of my daze as I'm just staring down at my fidgety hands, shaking my pen up and down out of anxiety that is creeping up on me a bit. That's when I look up at her, noticing my agitated state finally and she smiles at me, putting a hand to my shoulder as if to calm me down. Then she continues to pass out the rest of the papers.

When she's done she stands at the front of the class. "What might be tragic…" She says as she eyes the class. "Is if some of you don't start taking notes."

I half smile to myself and start writing some things that I just notice is on the board into my notebook.

"Sorry." She continues. "Senior year is not all about skipping classes and dancing for the security cameras at Walmart."

I look at Aria as I'm trying to hold in a laugh. She just smiles and shakes her head, like she can't believe her mom said that.

"That's what your weekends are for." She turns to her desk for something.

That's when there's a gasping sound and I turn to the noise. So does everyone else. Emily is fiddling with her bag and stands up.

"Emily, is everything alright?" Aunt Ella asks.

Emily looks panicked. She must be having a hard time readjusting to school on top of everything she is going through too. I can't say I blame her. "C-Can I be excused?" She asks.

I turn to Aunt Ella and watch her nod in concern as Emily takes off. Then she looks at Spencer and Aria as they have this look of wanting to leave too. Seeming to get the hint she gives them a nod to go and they both get to their feet, chasing after Em.

The girls don't come back through the rest of class, which worries me a bit. Is it because Em is upset, or has to do with something else.

"Hey." Aunt Ella says and pulls me aside before I can leave when the bell rings. "Can you make sure Emily is okay for me when you see her?"

I nod. "Yea, of course."

"Do you know what's going on with her lately?"

My mind wanders, trying not to think about the night of the grave being dug up. I don't know if that is the reason why she freaked out, but I'm hoping my face doesn't look too worried as I say. "She's just probably still struggling about Maya."

She nods. "I couldn't imagine losing someone like that."

I nod. "Yea. I know." I say, thinking back to my own family dying. They weren't exactly murdered but it was still a rough time to go through.

"Get going okay?" She says. "Don't want to be late for your next period."

"It's just lunch."

"Don't know if you know this, but you kind of have to eat."

I half laugh and nod, "I did actually. But thank you for the information."

She smiles. "Go on, I'll see you there."

When I walk out of class I run into the triplets. Spotting Blake makes my heart drop for a second, but then I smile. I can feel my face turning a bit red and I'm not sure if it's out of nerves of feeling weird around him, or if it's more from attraction. I mean, he is a nice guy, good kisser and not bad looking either. Can't deny any of that, but can I see a relationship beyond friendship? I'm not sure, I've never thought of him in that way before.

"Hey." They all say. Blake's turning just as red as I feel, but he keeps a smile on his face.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask.

"Heading to lunch." Kyle says.

"Join us?" Luna asks.

I slowly nod, "Sure." I wanted to catch up with the girls to see how Em is but I'd probably see them around anyway.

We all wait in line in the caf to get our food and then head out to the courtyard. We find a seat and just as we are sitting down, Jenna accidently bumps into a boy that's walking past our table. He knocks into the table and the kid's drink spills all over himself.

"Hey, watch it!" Kyle yells a bit as the drink gets a little on him too.

"Here, man." Blake says and hands the guy a napkin.

"Sorry." The kid says at the same time that Jenna says it to him.

"It's okay, Jenna." The kid says. "Don't worry about it."

I look around at the others and they raise their eyebrows at me. Then I turn away and spot Andrew over at the door at the other end of the courtyard. At the same time I make eye contact with him I see Aria, Spencer and Emily watching me. They turn their gaze to where I'm looking and when they look back they give me a sad look.

I haven't seen Andrew since the day I was called away from playing basketball with Mike and them. I have no classes with him this year, but I still can't get the feeling out that I did something wrong by kissing Blake every time I see him. I mean, I _know_ I didn't do anything wrong because we aren't together anymore, but my feelings are all over the place and I'm still hoping he'll change his mind.

He starts to walk closer but all he does is smile and then heads over to some of his friends sitting at the table on the other side of ours. I really hate that we are trying to be friends but we can't talk to each other outside of playing some pickup games or the occasional times he asks to go to the Brew.

The rest of the day is mellow, except for last period. I have ceramics class and it happens to be that not only does Blake get transferred into my class, but Andrew does too. Talk about the world trying to be funny. Luckily they are friends so it isn't too bad. Except for the few times that Blake or Andrew got touchy with me by rubbing a hand on my arm or something. The other gives a look of wanting to beat him up every time it happens. This is so freaking confusing.

The bell rings for the end of the day and I rush out before either of them can catch up to me. I don't even bother to fully clean off paint that I still have on my hands. But I don't care, I want to leave as soon as that bell rang, which is what I do.

When I turn the corner of the hallway I see Spencer, Aria and Emily walking out of their class. They're in the middle of a convo and Emily looks a bit distracted. I rush after them and see that they are heading towards the area of lockers that mine, Aria and Emily's are. As I reach them I just make out the words Em is saying.

"Or they're gonna make me repeat the eleventh grade."

"They can't hold you back." Spencer says as I stand beside her in front of Aria's locker.

Aria smiles at me but I don't interrupt.

"Yes they can. "Em says. "I was absent all of April."

"You're gonna get through this." Aria tells her.

"Maybe."

"You just need a study partner. A tutor." Spencer says to her.

"Wait!" Aria half yells. "Why don't you ask Ezra?"

Now I'm comfortable with Ezra since I specifically know him. But the other's don't know him that well and aren't comfortable with him yet. So it wasn't surprising when I saw their faces give each other a look and then a look at Aria too.

"If your first make up test is in english, he could be your tutor."

"Awkward." Spencer says.

"No it's not."

"Aria, I can't think of him as Mr. Fitz anymore. Okay? I've seen his underwear drawer." Emily says.

I try to hide a laugh as Aria slightly looks at me, rolling her eyes a bit and then says, "Those were his socks."

"Why would socks have a flap in the middle?" Spencer asks.

Now I lose it and start cracking up. They all look at me. "Hey." I say, now trying to stop laughing.

"Hey." They all say, smiling at me.

"I'm texting you his number." Aria says as she shifts her eyes back to Emily.

"Aria, I don't…"

"Look, he's not teaching right now, and it's killing him." She says with a pleading face. Ezra has been out of a job since he got fired from Hollis. "Seriously. You'd be helping each other out." She adds.

I take this time to head over to my locker. I just remembered that I have a few books that I have to trade from my backpack to my locker, and vise versa. At one point I hear a bit of commotion and turn to them. I see Aria walk over to a woman not too far away that looks familiar. Then my heart sinks. It's Meredith…the college girl that Uncle Byron cheated on Aunt Ella with. What is she doing here?

I find out that she applied for a teaching job. "Oh, how great. If she gets it we'll be seeing her every day." I say to Aria sarcastically.

"This is insane. Why would she want to be in a school where she is going to see mom."

I shrug, then look to the side. "You okay, Em?" I ask as we walk out the front doors of the school.

She half smiles and nods. "Yea. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

She nods again. "Yea. I just uh…" She looks at Aria and Spencer, who both seem to be giving her the same _Don't say anything_ look.

I pick up on their hesitation very quickly. "What's going on?"

They give each other a look and then Spencer drags me over to a wall of the building where no one is. "Do you want out of this _A_ mess still?"

My heart sinks. "What?'

"Do you want out or not?" She asks again.

"Wait…it's really starting again?"

She nods, and so do the others. "We think so." Aria says in a hushed voice.

We all get quiet for a few seconds. My mind is racing. How could this be happening again? Who could it possibly be this time if Mona is in Radley?

"So do you?" Spencer asks, more urgent than before. "You know about the photos we found in my car the day we went to the motel that puts us at the grave that night. But do you want to be more involved? Do you want to help us?"

My mouth starts to drop, completely speechless for a second. "I…I thought you didn't want me to help with things like this? Last time I had to pry information out of you guys. Now you're just going to hand it to me?"

"Look, Jessie." Spencer continues. "We made the mistake of getting you into this mess last year. But now you know about the grave and the photos, and that the lair was not emptied out by us. You are already more part of this than whoever is behind this would have wanted you to be. You might as well be in it with us enough to keep yourself safe."

"How will me knowing everything keep me safe. I knew too much last time and almost got killed. How do I know it won't happen again?"

"You don't. But it's up to you. Are you in or out?" She asks me again.

I think for a few seconds, darting my eyes to each of them. Emily has concern all over her face, Spencer seems a bit eager for an answer, and Aria has fear in her eyes. She's shaking her head at me, as if begging for me to say no. I mean, do I really want to get into all this again? Is it really worth the risk?

Finally I take a breath as I think about this more. Of course it is worth it, because they are my friends, two of them are like family to me. I can't let them go through this by themselves knowing what's going on. I may not feel confident and am scared as hell, but I'm not the asshole who will let them risk their lives while I sit back and watch.

"Yea." I nod, "I'm in."


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **All credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Thanks to everyone who is still reading this.**

 **Please review and let me know your thoughts!**

* * *

When I get home after work I walk into the house, the smell of food goes up my nose at once. I didn't notice how hungry I was until now as my stomach growled so loudly that Uncle Byron turns around from the counter in the kitchen, looking over with a smile as soon as he sees me.

"Hey."

I half smile at him. "Hi."

"You okay?"

I shrug. "Long day at school, and a shitty day at work." But before he can ask I say. "Need help?"

He nods. "If you don't mind."

I smile. "I don't." I put my backpack by the wall where the stairs are and walk over to him. "Where's Ria and Mikey?"

"Mike is in the shower and Aria should be down in a few. She was finishing up homework."

 _Homework, or A stuff?_ Is what I think. But obviously I can't say that so I just nod and grab some of the things he hands me and head over to the table.

"So what happened at work?"

I take a deep breath. "Some kid thought it was funny to toss a baseball at his friend at full force and smashed the window to the door."

"You're kidding."

I shake my head. "Nope. They took off before I could even get a look at them and the security cameras stopped working again."

"You really need to update them."

"I'll eventually get to it."

"It's not safe to have outdated stuff in a store, Jessie."

I look at him from the table. "I know that, Uncle Byron. I've been a little occupied."

He gives me a stiff smile, knowing that I'm still having a hard time with things and now everything with the divorce on top of that. "Have you talked to Bobby recently?" He changes the subject.

"Not since he came back before school started. We've both been a bit busy."

He nods. "College and senior year are tough ones."

"My senior year just started not that long ago, Uncle Byron." I half laugh, "Can't really say it's been that tough just yet."

"Well if you need any help you know I'm here."

I nod. "I know."

"Or Bobby." He continues.

"Or Aunt Ella." I add.

He looks at me a bit sad and nods. "Yea. Her too." He walks closer. "How is she?"

I shrug a bit. "She seems okay. I mean, I haven't really talked to her about anything else besides school stuff, or her asking how me and the girls are doing. You know she doesn't like to worry us."

He nods. "I do."

"Okay. I'm here. Sorry I took so long." Aria says as she speeds down the steps.

"Can you check on the vegetables to make sure I didn't burn them?" Uncle Byron asks her.

"Really?" I say. "Veggies again?"

"Really?" Aria copies me. "Complaining again?"

I give her a confused look, because there isn't a fun tone in her voice at all. Not even a crack of a smile as she looks at me. "Shut up. I hate them." I say a bit annoyed.

She half smiles, but it seems forced. "Then don't eat it."

"Little hard when the vegetarian limits my options of food."

"Oh ha ha." She says and goes over to the stove.

"Don't you two start arguing again. I have had it up to here with your bickering." He positions his hand above his head to indicate how fed up he is.

"She started it." Aria says, eyeing me. "She always starts it."

"Nu uh!"

"Uh huh!"

"Girls!" He yells. "You are not five anymore. You are both seventeen year old girls. I should not have to yell at you like you are children. You know better."

"Sorry, Uncle Byron." I give her a look.

"Sorry, dad." She rolls her eyes at me and checks on the food.

Obviously she's in a bad mood about something, just like I'm in a bad mood about those kids breaking the store door. Ever since her parents decided to divorce and I had to lie to the cops we have gotten into a bit more arguments than normal. Mostly it happens when we are both in a bad mood to begin with and any little thing will trigger a fight. I guess you can say it's typical sister like stuff, which makes sense growing up together since the age of three. Now we live in the same house and share the same room so it's bound to happen every once in awhile.

After dinner I bring all my school stuff upstairs and grab my things to take a shower. When I'm done I head into our room and see Aria is lying on her stomach on her bed with her laptop in front of her. She looks over at me but doesn't say anything. I don't either so I just dump my stuff into the hamper then grab the Divergent book I'm still trying to finish out of my backpack and lay on my bed.

We are silent for about ten minutes, not paying attention to each other. Me doing everything to concentrate on this book while she is doing whatever it is she is into. That is until a pillow flies into the book and it hits me in the face, "What the hell!" I yell as I bring the book away and toss the pillow back at her.

She's sitting up on her knees now as she catches the pillow and puts it aside. She has a mean look on her face. "Why did you do it?"

I sit up straighter. "Do what?" I have an angry face as well as I tap my lip with my fingers to make sure the force of the book hitting it didn't make it bleed.

"Telling Spencer you'd help? Are you out of your mind?"

I open my mouth a bit stunned for a second as words don't come out. Then I bring myself back to reality and shake my head. "You had an attitude with me when I made my usual joke about not wanting to eat vegetables because you're mad that I said I'd help?"

"I just don't understand why you are willingly helping knowing what happened last time."

"Well it's either that or worrying about you guys all the time."

"And what about me worrying about if whoever did this will go around trying to grab you like Mona did."

I take a deep breath, _Spring, peaches, birds chirping_. I think to myself to get the feeling of wanting to throw up at the sound of her name to go away, while trying to hold back any images of that day. "It won't happen again."

"And how do you know that?"

"I…"

"Exactly." She cuts me off before I can continue. "You don't know. So why risk it? Why put yourself into something you aren't fully involved in. There's no evidence that you were there, or that you even know what happened. Why can't you just live your life without us bringing you down for something we did."

"Except you didn't do anything. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time because someone tried to frame you." I toss the book aside and walk over to her. "You are my best friend, and those girls have become part of my life too." I sit on her bed. "I may not be as close to Hanna or Emily like I am with you, and even Spencer. But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't do everything I can to protect you guys."

"You got hurt last time you tried. Now you have major PTSD. Everything triggers something for you because of what she did to you. And that is my fault."

"It's not as bad as it used to be. I'm fine. None of what happened is your fault. Everything happened because I got involved. I wouldn't change trying to keep you safe for anything."

"But…"

"No." I say shaking my head. "No buts about it. It's the past and now I'm making my choice for the future problem. You can be upset with me all you want, but I'm not changing my mind. I'm in this with you."

She half smiles. "You are a pain."

I nod. "Yep. But hey. What are friends for?"

She smiles. "I hate this idea. But I'm glad you are here with me."

I give her a hug. "I'm not going anywhere." I pull away. "Now what you need to figure out is what is going to happen with Meredith."

Her face drops, her eyes wandering away from mine for a few seconds. "Yea…I'm not sure what to do about that just yet." She looks back at me, her brown eyes full of worry. "We don't even know if she is for sure going to be at school. Till then we just have to wait."

School the following day wasn't too bad. It went by pretty quick and nothing too crazy happened, or at least not while I was around. It's so much mellower so far than it was last year…well I mean when it comes to having to deal with normal teenage stuff like bullying. Here and there kids still look at us like we are about to explode, but when it comes to my old bully pals I don't have to deal with it as much.

Amber and her brother finally got themselves into so much trouble last year that they got transferred to a private school somewhere in another town. They do still live in town though, but I haven't seen them around yet. The Carrie twins however are a different story. They are still hanging with Naomi and Riley and still have their moments of bothering me but so far they don't seem to be as into it as they used to be. But I do know that they are still upset with me about getting Mona sent away to the loony house.

Then there's Rachel. She is a bit more laid back since Tommy and Amber aren't around school anymore. There has been one or two times that she has given me a look of wanting to hit me, but she hasn't done so much more than that so far. I did hear though that she gives people a hard time whenever she hangs with Amber outside of school. Still keeping up with her appearances it seems. As for Amber and Tommy's old friends Jane and Kenny, Jane finally graduated after being a senior for like two years. While Kenny is now a junior hanging around with a new group of bullies that have nothing against me, so it's one less headache to worry about.

Aria's phone rings as we are heading down the front steps after school. My heart sinks every time either of us or the girls gets a text. Now I know what they felt last year when I wasn't in the loop of knowing their secret.

But before she can check what it is or who it is from we hear "Aria?"

We turn around and see Jenna sitting on the little wall spaced part that you can sit on around the top steps of the building. She gives me a weird look and I give the same back to her.

"I recognized your ring tone." She continues.

I look around in a bit of awkwardness and see Andrew walking over to his car. "Ria…" I start.

"Jessie." Jenna says. "Didn't know you were there."

"Uh…" I start. "Yea, sorry. I should have let you know I was here."

"No problem. How are you?"

"I'm good. Just trying to get through what will probably be a hectic senior year."

She smiles a bit. "Yea, but junior year was pretty hectic too." Her voice sounded a little weird as she said that.

I give Aria a weird look but then I turn back to Andrew. He's almost at his car now. "Yea." I say and turn to them. "Well….I gotta go talk to a friend." I look at Aria and point over to Andrew. "I'll meet you when I'm done."

Aria nods. "Okay." But she has a look like she doesn't want me to leave.

I mouth. _I'm sorry_. "Talk to you later, Jenna."

"Bye." She smiles.

I turn and take off down to the parking space Andrew has his car. He's just unlocking it when I get there. "Hey!"

He turns around and smiles. "Hey, what's up?"

I shrug. "Not much. How was your day?" I'm almost positive I asked this question during class today but I can't think of anything else to say.

"It was okay. AP classes are still as hard as ever." Most likely the same answer he gave me earlier. But who cares at this point, as long as he's talking to me right?

"Yea, mine aren't any easier. And I'm in regular classes."

It gets quiet for a second as he awkwardly looks down at his car keys. I feel like he's trying to find a way to get out of talking to me. "Was there something you needed?"

"Oh." I shake my head. "No, I just…." I give him a sad look. "I miss you."

He slightly smiles. "We just had class together."

"That's not what I mean."

He slowly nods. "I know. I miss you too."

"Then why is this so hard for you to just let us be back to us? I moved past my panicked phase. I don't jump for every little thing anymore. I don't freak out when someone touches me. What is making you not want to be with me?"

He gives me a sad look. "We just aren't compatible anymore. We lost our spark after everything that happened with Mona. Then I went downhill with my grandpa dying and there was no way for us to continue when we were always arguing."

"But now we are both fine."

He nods. "We are."

"And?"

"And I'm not in the phase of wanting a girlfriend right now. It's senior year, I want to focus on my grades."

"You are one of the smartest kids in school. You barely need to even study half the time, but you're choosing your grades over fixing things with a girl you went out with for almost a year?"

"Jessie, I'm sorry. But right now I don't want anything holding me back. Senior year is hard enough as it is. If things spark with us again down the line then great, but at the moment there's nothing there for me."

My heart sinks. "But…you react the way you always did whenever you see me with a guy." My eyes start burning, tears filling in them. "How could you feel nothing for me anymore if you do that?"

He gives me a sad look. "It's not that I feel nothing for you, it's just…complicated."

"It's not complicated. You're just trying to make excuses." I turn around to walk away.

"Jessie." He grabs my arm and has me look up into his blue eyes.

I shake my head. "No…" I pull my arm away. "You aren't allowed to give me that look anymore if we aren't together."

"You ready?" Aria's voice comes and she shows up next to me. "Hey, Andrew."

It's quiet for a few seconds as he watches me and I watch him, not even paying attention that she's there. It feels like forever that we don't take our eyes off each other, anger in my eyes while his are soft and sad looking. But now I feel a tear about to run down my face and know it's time to go.

"What's going on?" Aria asks.

I quickly wipe away the tear. "Apparently nothing." I say and I hear my voice crack as I do. My throat is tight like I'm going to lose it, so I turn and walk off.

My car is not too far away, so I angrily get into it and turn it on. I sit there, waiting for Aria as I turn up the music a bit to help block out my thoughts. I cannot believe I had my first real conversation with him about where things will go with us and it blew up in my face. It was not what I was expecting and I will admit that it hurt…a lot.

The door opens and Aria gets in. We come to a silently mutual agreement as she doesn't ask me what happened and I don't bother to share. We are both quiet the entire ride home, listening to the music. But when I finally pull up to the house the first thing she does is lowers the volume and grabs my arm to look at her, which I don't.

"Jessie." I sit there without answering, just staring out the windshield and wait for her to continue. "What happened?"

I shake my head and wipe my eyes. "Me and him are definitely not getting back together."

"That can't be true."

I look at her. "He pretty much just summed up that he is not into having a girlfriend right now. He doesn't want anything holding him back while trying to get through his school stuff because senior year is hard enough."

"There is no way he said that."

"That's exactly what he said." It gets quiet for a second, "I need to get to work."

"We are talking about this later." Then she opens the door and heads inside.

When I get home later one Aria practically drd everything she can to keep my mind off of it. She even goes as far as playing video games with me. By the time we head to bed I realize that I forgot to ask her about the convo she had with Jenna today, but I guess that'll have to wait as I close my eyes and fall asleep right away.


	10. Chapter 10

**Happy PLL Day everyone!**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform own.**

* * *

The following day I get out of the bathroom sometime after school, just about ready to head off to the park to get some softball in with some of the girls. I'm still a bit ticked off about the conversation I had with Andrew. He didn't come to school today (probably avoiding me), so I thought I'd skip opening up the store and take off some steam by doing that for awhile.

I walk over to our room and see Aria sitting on the edge of her bed with her feet dangling, looking upset. She's staring at my side of the room as if talking to someone, which confuses me. I'm about to walk in when Uncle Byron's voice comes and I stop in my tracks. It doesn't seem like I should interrupt so I just stand there until I hear the squeaking sound of a bed. I realize Uncle Byron must have been sitting on mine because Aria hasn't moved. Then he appears at the opening of the door and turns around back to Aria.

"We both owe her an apology." He says to her. "And I'm not doing that for you."

She looks at me and I move back a bit towards the bathroom. I don't want him to think I was eavesdropping on their conversation. He turns around and walks out of the room, spotting me. "Hi, Jessie." He slightly smiles as I pretend I was coming out of the bathroom.

"Hey, I didn't know you were home."

"I had a few things to do. I'm going back to the office. I'll see you guys for dinner."

I smile and nod as he passes me and heads down the hall. I walk into the room and head over to my bed, grab my string bag from the bottom corner of the bed and look over at Aria. She has this face like she wants to cry. "Do I want to know?"

"It's a long story."

"Is it _A_ related?"

She looks down at her dangling feet. "What I just told dad was because _A_ said to or they would spill something on me."

"You mean about the grave?" My heart sinks as I realize I said it a bit loud and we both look at the door out of nerves of being heard 'cause Mike is in his room. When I look back at her she gives me this sad look. "Ria…what did this _A_ make you tell him?"

She looks at the door again and then walks over to her desk. She takes something out of one of the drawers and comes over to sit on my bed. I sit beside her and she hands me an envelope. I open it and grab what's inside. What I pull out of it is a round red earring.

I look at it in confusion. "I don't get it."

"When I found out about dad cheating on mom he told me he was done with Meredith, but I went to his office once to be positive."

"So you found this in his office?"

"Ali did. We went after hours to snoop around one night. Even though dad said he stopped Ali thought maybe he was lying and wanted to help me make sure."

"Alison…really?"

"What?"

"You trusted that she wanted to help?"

"She was one of my best friends. And she was the only one who knew."

"Okay. Continue."

"Anyway, when we got there she found a pair of those." She points to the one in my hand. "I got mad and she helped me wreck everything."

"You trashed your dad's office?" She nods, her eyes shifting away from mine. "Ria, are you nuts?"

"I was mad." She shakes her head. "It kind of just happened and I felt like crap after."

I nod. "I could imagine."

"I put the earrings in the casket with Ali so no one would find out. But _A_ obviously dug her up and sent it back to me. Now I have to go say I'm sorry."

"First of all…that's creepy." I say. "Second…you want me to go with you?"

She shakes her head. "No. I have to do it on my own."

I nod. "Okay."

It get's quiet for a second. "Want me to drop you off at the park?"

"You don't mind?"

She shakes her head. "Not at all. I'll even pick you up if you need the ride back."

I half smile. "Okay. Thanks."

Our friendly game of softball quickly turned into a disaster when Amber, Riley and Carly busted onto the field in the middle of me trying to catch a pop up at first base. I'm just about to catch it when someone bumps me from behind and makes me go face first into the first base bag.

"Woops." Amber says with a smile, "My bad Brant. Didn't see you there."

I'm getting up onto my knees when I see there's blood on the base and some dripping onto the sand. I spit out some blood from my mouth, it won't stop as I can feel more building up inside.

Luna runs over from second base and helps me to my feet. I take off my glove and brush off the sand on me. I look at Amber and try not to lose my temper. "Why are you walking in the middle of the softball field? We are playing a game." I spit out some more blood.

"Oh." Amber looks around, as if clueless.

The rest of the people we are playing with start to come our way. Kelly and Tori from basketball walk over from third base and the batter's box. Tori has the bat still in her hands as she gets closer. Freya and Alyssa (twins) come from shortstop and left field while Taylor walks from right field. Then Danielle heads over from center field, Stephanie from the pitcher's mound, and lastly Carter takes off her catcher's mask as she leaves her spot at home plate and stands beside all of us. We are practically circling them from getting away, ten against three and yet they continued to run their mouths.

"You call this a game?" Riley adds with a laugh, "Been watching for like ten minutes. None of you look like much of a team."

Amber watches me with a smile, "You dropped the ball."

"Because you ran out here and slammed into me!" Luna holds onto me, just in case I decide to go after her as I spit some more blood out.

Luna looks at me, "I'm going to take you home. You need to check that out."

"Running away as always Brant?" Riley says with an evil smile.

I smile a bit, trying really hard not to rip my arm away from Luna, "No, just rather not give you a black eye." I say calmly.

She laughs for like a minute, pretending to wipe off fake tears. "Hilarious." She nods to herself and looks at Amber and Carly. Amber looks thrilled, but Carly looks a little scared. "It really is. Considering you couldn't even get away from Mona."

My face drops as my heart races a bit from her name being mentioned. But just as quickly I'm able to get that out of my mind by thinking happy memories and now my temper is rising. "What did you say?"

"Too bad she didn't kill you, would have made my life so much better." Amber gets in.

Carter walks closer, blocking me from lunging forward and straightens up as much as she can in her catcher's equipment. She's easily taller than all three of them, even has a bit of muscle on her. If I was them I'd be pretty scared if she decided to deck me. "Take that back."

"No." Amber smiles at all of us.

Carter looks at me and then to Luna, "Take Jessie home."

"What? No." I say, getting pissed.

"Go home." She has a really mad look in her eyes.

I don't think this is going to end well, so I just allow Luna to pull me away. I listen to Amber and Riley taunting me all the way to Luna's car. I feel a bit bad about Carly though. She isn't even doing anything that should have them upset with her. She's just in the wrong place with her cousins at the wrong time. Yet she may be just as much in trouble as the other two. However, I can't wait to hear what happens.

Monday morning I'm in the middle of putting things away in my locker and exchanging things I need into my backpack, hating the thought of having to be in school. I look at the mirror I have on the door to see my lip isn't swollen anymore from hitting the base. I had cut up the inside of my lip, so unless people know what happened they won't be able to see the difference. Then I notice Riley walking past behind me with the Carrie twins. I take a quick look and as she turns to me, giving me a nasty look. I see that she has a busted lip. Now I know what they did.

I try to hold in my enjoyment of her getting straightened out as I close my locker door. That's when I see someone come into view by the locker next to mine in the corner of my eye. I feel a touch on my arm to get my attention and when I look to the side I see Aria leaning up against that locker.

"Hey." I smile.

"Can you come with me for a minute?"

My smile goes away as she seems really serious. "What's going on?"

"We need to talk, all five of us."

"About?"

"Em remembers something about that night." She whispers to me.

"She does?"

"Yes…well this isn't the first time."

My eyebrows slant in a bit of anger. "And you thought it was okay to keep that from me?"

"It wasn't that much to go on. We didn't want to get your hopes up."

"What happened to keeping me updated no matter what?"

"I'm sorry. It happened the day we went to the motel and you were already freaked out."

"Oh." She nods, but has this look like there's more to it. I know she's hiding something from me. "But why not later on? It's been awhile."

"I just…I still don't think this is a good idea to keep you completely involved."

"That is not your call, Aria."

"It's mine and the girls mess. This person isn't after you. I'm only asking you now because Spencer said to get you."

"Ria…"

"Jessie. Just trust me okay? There are things I'll tell you if it is super important. But that wasn't."

"Fine."

She grabs my arm and practically drags me over to the bathroom. When we walk inside the other girls are hanging around the sink. They all give me a slight smile, but it isn't the happiest. "Why do I feel like you are all going to kill me?" They half smile but I know I took it too far. "Sorry, just a joke."

"So what did Mona say when you went to Radley?" Spencer asks Hanna.

"You went to Radley?" I ask.

She nods. "I've…been seeing Mona."

My mouth drops and I look at all of them in disbelief. None of them had a shocked look, which made me know that they hid this from me too. Then I look back to her. "You've what?"

"Don't be mad." She says.

"Oh. No. I'm not mad. I'm confused on why the hell you'd do that after she did what she did. She ran you over with a car."

"I just needed answers to why she did this. She was my friend before I got into Ali's group. And she was my best friend all through freshman and sophomore year when we all split from each other."

I take a deep breath and nod. "Okay. But why am I the last one to know."

They all look at each other. "We kind of forgot to mention it." Spencer says in a apologetic way.

"How do you forget to tell me that she is seeing the person who kidnapped me?"

"There's a lot going on." Emily says.

I nod, rather than argue and allow Hanna to continue. She has been seeing Mona for weeks without us knowing. But then yesterday she finally said something to Hanna. Apparently Mona knows that they are getting texts again. But she couldn't get anything else out of her 'cause Caleb made her let him go and he interrupted.

"That's all she said?" Aria asks.

"Isn't that enough?" Emily says as she paces the bathroom.

"No, that is not enough." Spencer tells her. "You have to go back to Radley, Han."

Hanna tries to say something.

" _Alone_." Spencer interrupts her as she emphasizes the word.

"It's not so easy. Caleb is all over me!"

"I don't need to know that." Spencer says.

I try to hide a laugh, because I get what Spencer means but this situation isn't funny.

"Well, Caleb's not finding dug up jewelry in his locker." Aria says. "Whose earrings did Ali find in my dad's couch?" According to Aria, when she tried to give the earrings back to Meredith the day she went to talk to her she told Aria that it wasn't hers. So now she has no idea who they belonged to.

"One question at a time." Spencer says.

"Wait." Hanna gets out. "You're not going to ask your mom why she is suddenly defending Garrett? I mean, seriously, Spencer. What is that?"

"Your mom is doing what?" I ask as my mouth starts to drop a bit in surprise.

But no one pays attention as Emily says. "He probably told her it's time to lock Jenna up."

Now I'm so confused that I can't even keep up. What the hell does Jenna have to do with anything? But of course before I can get that in she continues.

"She was driving that night, guys. I remembered…clearly."

"Hold up!" I half yell and they all look at me. "Back up. Jenna is blind. What the hell are you talking about that she drove?"

They explain that Em had a flashback the day we went to the lair about being in a car the night she ended up at the grave. Then that the other day she had another flashback of Jenna driving said car.

"That's crazy." I say.

"That's what I saw."

"Em, we believe you, okay." Aria says. "But honestly, I don't think you remember anything clearly from that night." She looks at us. "When we picked you up you kept calling me Arlene."

"Guys, she can see." Emily says persistently. "She's probably on Mona's payroll."

"No, Mona doesn't have any cash." Hanna says. "They won't even let her have floss."

The bell rings.

"Okay, let's just do this at lunch." Spencer says. "I can't be late again." She storms off to the door.

I look at Aria, who gives me a slight smile and follows the others. I do the same, but when I get to the door they all stop and I run into Aria. "What are you do…" She turns around and has me go back inside because Spencer is pushing them from behind.

"Jenna is coming in here." Spence says. "Where is the earring?"

"What?" Aria asks, giving her a nervous look.

"Give me the earring. I have an idea."

"What, what are we doing?" Hanna asks. "Do I get to slap her again?"

"No!" Spencer whispers/screams and runs over to the sink with the earring.

"You slapped a blind girl?" I ask.

"Just when I found out she had Caleb spying on us last year."

"Wait what?"

"No time for that!" Spencer says as she heads back over to us. "Okay, get in the stall." She points behind us. "Go! Go!"

We all turn and run over to the stalls, squeezing into two different ones so we aren't packed inside. Spencer, me and Hanna go into one while Aria and Em go into the one next to us. I feel like a complete idiot trying to cram three girls into one stall.

"This is ridiculous."

"Sh!" Spencer gets out and peers through the crack in the stall door.

Hanna does the same through the other end of the door and I decide to stand on the toilet. I hate the idea but I can't see over Spencer because she's tall. Then Hanna is in heels so it makes her like four inches taller than she actually is, so I can't see over here either. I may have grown a bit more over the summer and now at a height of five-six, but I still can't compare to girls in heels or being at the same level as Spencer or Emily at the heights of five-seven and five-seven in a half. All I'm hoping is that I don't fall inside.

As I get onto it I place my hand on the top of the stall's wall next to me and have a heart attack when I feel another hand. I almost slip, grabbing the other wall as Spencer holds onto me before I can fall. Then I peak my head over and see that Aria had the same idea as I did to hold onto the wall. She smiles a bit, says she's sorry and sets her hand on top of mine to calm me down. Then she presses her finger to her lips as the sound of the main door creaks open. She looks back at her stall door and the sound of clicking comes. I look through the crack of ours and can make out Jenna with her walking stick as she heads over to the sink.

The sound of the knob turning and then the water comes to my ears. I watch her as she fills up her water bottle and then dumps it out. She closes it up and stuffs it back into her bag. Then she stops as she looks up towards the mirror and I watch her take off her sunglasses. Then my heart sinks when she picks up the earring and stares right at it.

 _No way_. Is all I can think. There is no freaking way she is looking right at that earring right now. She is blind!

She sets it back down onto the sink and puts her glasses back on. Then she walks over to the door without her walking stick. When she gets to it she takes out her stick and opens the door, pretending to actually need it. I am not seeing this. A girl who is supposed to be blind can actually see and is fooling everyone.

As soon as the door closes behind her we all pile out of the stalls. "There is no way I just witness a blind girl looking at an earring." I say, pacing the bathroom.

"I knew it." Emily says.

"That is it." Hanna says in a pissed off tone. "I am going for way more than a slap."

"Hanna, stop." Spencer says.

"Stop why!" Hanna yells.

Spencer looks at Aria, as if pleading for her to help.

"Don't look at me." Aria says. "I'm ready to hang a sign, _BITCH CAN SEE!_ "

"I second that." I say, "Especially if she had anything to do with Em being at that grave."

"Guys, she doesn't know that we know." Spencer adds.

"Yea, she will in a minute." Emily says in an angry voice.

"No." Spencer says. "We don't let her know that we know. Not yet."

"You lost me." I say.

She looks at me. "We can use this." She smiles, like she has an idea. "And we will."

I look at all of them. I have a mixture of fear and confusion, but Spencer has her _I have a plan_ look. Hanna nods as she takes turns looking at us, Em has scared all over her face, and then Aria is smiling. She seems to be loving this whether she knows the idea or not.

All I know is that they have more of a grudge against her than I do and I don't know if I want to get in the middle of what they plan. Maybe I should have backed off and let them keep certain things to themselves. Oh well, I'm in it now.

"What did you have in mind?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **I do not own PLL. All credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Any thoughts on the new season so far?**

 **Please review and let me know what you think of my story and this new season!**

* * *

Walking into ceramics is not easy to do after the conversation I had with Andrew the other day. I keep debating whether to skip, but I decide against it since I've never skipped a class in my life. Plus it's bad enough that I was super late for class for the first time of my life for first period history. Hanna and the girls have it with me as well and the teacher was not happy about five of her students walking in about ten minutes late.

"You okay?" Blake asks when I walk in.

I sit over by him and nod. "Yea. Just tired."

"Long day?"

I nod. "Too long."

The bell rings and Andrew basically topples into the room at the last second. "Sorry, Mr. Millar, I was just…"

"Take your seat, Andrew. You're a second late. It's fine."

Andrew smiles and starts to walk over to our table. But then he sees me and thinks otherwise as he decides to sit with another friend.

"What was that?" Blake asks.

"What was what?" I say stupidly as I grab some clay out of the box in the middle of the table.

"Andrew took one look over here and then bailed on sitting with us. Is he okay?"

I shrug. "How should I know? We aren't close anymore."

He gives me a look. "That's not true. You guys play basketball all the time."

"Fine. We aren't close enough that he tells me his personal business."

"Jessie." He puts his hand on my arm.

I look over at him. "What?"

"What's wrong? Are you and him fighting?"

"Why do you assume it has to do with me?"

"Because I watched you stand at the door for a full minute before you walked into this room. Then he looked at this table like he didn't know what to do and walked away to another table. So I'm getting the vibe that something is going on with him and you."

"You mean besides the fact that he dumped me when I was at a vulnerable state of mind and acts like we never had history?"

"He doesn't act like that."

"Yes he does, and he made it pretty clear the other day that he isn't into me like that anymore."

"He's…not?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I look at him. "And if you say anything to Andrew I'll throw a hard piece of clay at you the next time I see you."

He half smiles. "I won't say anything."

After school I go to work. It's a bit hectic today as it always is, but luckily it's a school night so I close up way earlier than I would on a weekend. I'm so tired that I can barely function anymore. Aria comes to pick me up, but before I can leave I have to do a few things.

"So you're really going to act friendly with Jenna and go to her house?" I ask her while she is handing me a tube of tennis balls from the bottom of the ladder so that I can put it onto one of the top shelves. "I mean, you aren't really going to play the piano while she's on flute during the assembly next week are you?"

She hands me another one. "No. I'm just humoring her on her offer from the other day. As Spencer said, she wants me to just keep an eye on her and see if there is anything suspicious in her house." This was Spencer's "brilliant" plan to spy on Jenna. I say brilliant in that way because it seems a bit ridiculous to me coming from someone who has had more interesting plans than this after going through Mona for a year. But I'm not coming up with anything better so I can't argue.

"Considering the fact that she can actually see, I don't think it is going to be so easy to snoop around."

"Well we have to do something don't we?"

"I mean, no, not really." I grab another one from her. "You guys can stop getting yourselves into trouble for once and just act like teenagers." I look down at her. "Just a thought."

She half smiles. "If _A_ wasn't planning to rat us out about the grave then we could live normal lives."

"Whatever that means in this town." I half laugh as I get down. "But I don't like the idea of you going in there by yourself."

"She thinks that I think she is still blind. She isn't going to do anything to jeopardize that. She is obviously doing it for a reason."

"It's demented." I say as I walk over to the baseball bats and organize them back to how they were before everyone started touching them. "And believe me. I've seen full out demented in person. This may not be as crazy as kidnapping and stalking for revenge, but it's definitely close enough."

We hear someone knocking on the front door. "Hey, Jessie!"

"Is that Holden?" Aria asks.

"Sounds like it."

We both walk out from the back isle to check, and sure enough it is our old friend Holden Strauss. We've known him since we were five. He was in Portugal for awhile and had come back last school year not too long after things with Ezra and her parents exploded. After things went downhill with Ezra, Holden had asked Aria to hang out. More or less because her dad was forcing the issue of getting closer to him since she was grounded at the time and not allowed to do much more than be home. So eventually they started "dating". Which I didn't find out till sometime later that they eventually just started using each other as alibis. He was actually doing some kind of Martial Arts that his parents didn't know about because he has something wrong with his heart (which Ria had no idea about until later on) while she went sneaking around to be with Ezra whenever they went outside of town. I guess it was kind of romantic.

"Can you let me in?" He asks from the door. "I know it's after closing but I really need to grab a few things."

I look at Aria, who smiles and nods. Then I walk over and open the door.

"Oh thank you, you are the best."

"Make it quick. We literally were about to leave."

"No problem. I just need a minute." He heads off into the isle where the sports tape is and a few other small sports items, like teeth guards and stuff like that. Then in no time he is at the counter.

"How are you?" I ask as I ring up his stuff.

He nods. "Fine. Just been busy with school and helping my dad with a few things." He smiles. "How are you?" He looks at both me and Aria, who's standing by the opening of the hallway behind the counter.

"We are good. Just school as well." Aria says.

"And me working." I add.

"Good." He gets quiet. "I know I never came to see you, but how are you guys after everything with Mona?"

My heart sinks and then races, but I smile. "Great." I say. "I'm great. We're great." I grab the money he gives me. "Just living life."

He looks behind me to Aria and then gives me a sad look. "That's good to hear." But I can tell in his voice that he wants to say more, or for me to say something different than being fine. However, he doesn't push it and grabs his change and bag from me. "Thanks. You're awesome."

I half laugh. "I try."

"I'll see you guys around then."

We both smile and I walk with him to the door to lock it. "Okay." I turn back to her. "Let's get out of here before anyone else tries to come in. I'm exhausted and I need to get my homework done."

"Can you relax?" She says. "You're giving me anxiety watching how jittery you are getting."

"I'm not getting jittery."

She gives me a look. "Jessie, once he mentioned her name you by passed talking about it, and now you look like you are about to smash something from nerves."

"I'm fine. I just hate when people bring it up."

She walks closer to me and holds my hands to stop them from shaking. "Look at me." My eyes had been zooming around the store. So it takes a lot to get myself to look her in the eyes. "I know you do. But if you want everyone to think you're fine you have to play it off better than this."

I take a deep breath and nod. "Right." I pull my shaking hands away from hers and stick them in my jean pockets.

She half smiles. "Smoothie night?"

I half laugh. "Yea. That sounds good."

A couple days later I find out that Aria is going to tell Jenna that she changed her mind about practicing for the assembly with her when she sees her. I still find this completely insane that they have to do this just to get some answers. But that's how they are, so I rather roll with it than constantly argue.

I did decide to keep my distance though. I told them I'd help and I wanted to be in the loop but that doesn't mean that I have to be with them 24/7. They seem so obsessed over nailing Jenna since we found out she isn't really blind that in the matter of days I've had to find a way to distance myself from them. They talk about it nonstop now and I've kind of had to find a way to block it out. Last year I was all for helping, but after what I went through I can't help but want to stay away to some extent. I think they've noticed this but none of them have approached me about it.

So while they were being creepy this morning before school and watching Jenna pretend to be blind as she glides her fingers across the book she's reading in the courtyard, I'm hanging over with the triplets. Doing everything I can to seem like my life is normal for once.

"Wait…." I say to Kyle. "So Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are Magnetos kids?" He had handed me the copy of the comic book he was reading and I just got my mind blown that Magneto from X-Men has children. I didn't know about this because all I do is watch the movies and the movies never mentioned this.

He laughs. "Yea. This is why you need to read the comics."

"No." I say. "This is why movies need to include every important detail."

"Maybe you should stick to what you _do_ know." He grabs the comic from me when the bell rings. "Like Harry Potter and sports."

"Oh, you're hilarious."

"I know." He nods in agreement. "I've been told."

"Jessie." Blake says from next to me. "Can I talk to you?"

"I don't want to be late for history class. I was the other day and the teacher was not happy."

"It's quick."

Luna and Kyle both get up and give us a look.

"Okay." I sit back down.

"I'll catch up." Blake tells his siblings.

They both smile at us in confusion and then take off.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Well…" He says. "Andrew may have come to me yesterday after class and asked if I like you."

My mouth drops. If I was a cartoon I'm sure my jaw would have been on the floor right now. "He…he did what?"

"He asked…."

"No…I heard you. Sorry." I start to think, shifting my eyes away from him. "What did you say?"

"I kind of stumbled over my words as I asked him why he asked. So that kind of answered the question for him."

"And…" I look back at him, "What did he say?"

He seems hesitant to say anything, but eventually he does. "He told me that if I do like you that I should go for it."

My heart sinks. "What?"

"I know that was probably the last thing you wanted to hear from your ex, but that's what he told me."

"Oh…"

"Look." He says. "I'm not going to do anything. You made it clear when I kissed you that you weren't ready. I won't push you into something you don't want."

I nod. "I just never saw myself moving on. I honestly thought he would get past what he was feeling and come back."

He slowly grabs my hand, as if seeing if I'd pull away. When I don't he rubs his thumb across the top a few times, his green eyes looking deeply into mine as if he needs me to look at him and it makes me melt a bit. "I know." He says, "But I'm here. Whether as a friend or more it doesn't matter. I rather have you in my life as a good friend than as nothing at all. It's his lose if he doesn't see how great you are."

I look at him and smile a bit. For a guy who likes a girl he knows he may never get he is keeping his feelings in check enough to try and make me feel better. "You're a smooth talker Mr. Rouche."

He laughs. "I've been told."

I laugh and shake my head. "You and your brother need to get a new line."

By the time lunch came around I still had the conversation with Blake in my head. I wanted to talk to the girls about it since it was fresh in my mind after I talked to him, but I was almost late again for first period so I had no time to get it out before the bell rang to start class. Then there was no time to bring it up during Aunt Ella's class, so once I eat the lunch I got from the Brew I haul ass back to school to see if they are in the caf. Luckily they are, so I join them.

"You will…" I put my hands on my knees and take deep breaths 'cause I'm tired from running.

"You okay?" Spencer asks as she grabs a chair from the next table so I can sit next to her.

Finally getting my breathing under control I sit down, "You will never guess the conversation I had with Blake this morning." I look around and see that Emily looks a little upset. "You okay, Em?"

She looks up from the table. "What?"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

I raise my eyebrow at her. "You sure?"

She shrugs. "Just thinking about the exam I took for english."

"You got your grade back?"

"Yea." She says. "I got a 94."

"That's great!" She half smiles and gives the girls a weird look. This confuses me. "Why don't you seem happy about it?"

"Long story."

"Care to…"

"What were you saying about Blake?" Aria cuts in.

I look at her. "Who?"

"Blake…you know, one of your best guy friends who kissed you."

My heart sinks and I look around, hoping that no one else heard that. "Dude." I half whisper.

She smiles at me, and so do the other girls. "Sorry." She says. "But you seemed very excited about something."

"I wasn't excited. I was shocked and needed to tell you."

"So tell us." Hanna says.

"Okay. So after the bell rang to go to first period Blake asked if he could talk to me. Apparently Andrew asked him if he likes me."

Their eyebrows go up, "Wow." Aria says.

"You're telling me. I mean, is it that obvious he does?"

"Not really." Hanna says. "He acts the same around you."

"Then maybe it's an ex-radar to know these things." They laugh a bit and I slightly smile. This was not a convo I thought I'd be having about the guy that I love. "But anyway. Blake said that it took him off guard so he stumbled over his words and that gave Andrew the hint that he does."

"So?" Emily asks concerned.

"So…he told Blake to give it a shot if he does." Their mouths drop in shock, all of them giving me sad looks as I continue, "He gave someone permission to go out with me." My face gets a little sad. "That's not a good sign."

"Is this why you seemed upset during first period?" Hanna asks.

I nod, tears filling in my eyes a bit. "I was going to tell you guys about it but I didn't want to bring up in the middle class."

She nods. "Yea, I get it."

"So what are you going to do?" Spencer asks.

"Nothing." I wipe my eyes real quick and compose myself. "I'm not going to jump into anything just because my ex-boyfriend gives his friend the okay to date me. That doesn't mean I'm going to go for it."

"Blake isn't a bad guy though, Jessie." Aria says.

"I know that. But I can't do it…or at least not right now. Me and Andrew haven't even been broken up for more than a few months, and when we finally have an actual conversation about this he decides days later to just pass me on like I'm a piece of junk?"

They all give me a sad look. "I'm sure he didn't mean it like that, Jessie." Hanna says.

"Sure as hell feels like it. I mean, we dated for almost a year. We were like a week to reaching that point. How can he just go and tell someone to go for it? He's basically making the decision for me that I'm going to move on."

"Maybe it's for the best." Emily says. "You don't want to be strung up on someone who isn't going to be there for you."

"Except he was always there for me…" I shake my head and get up.

"Where are you going?" Spencer asks as she grabs my arm.

"I need to take a walk."

"Want us to come?" Hanna asks.

I shake my head. "No, I'm fine. I just need to clear my head." I smile. "I'll see you guys in gym." Then I head out the door of the cafeteria.


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter is shorter than the pervious ones. Sorry for that.**

 **I do not own anything PLL related.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Aunt Ella asked me to come meet her at the Brew after I get out of work. I haven't seen her much outside of school, so thought it be a good idea to pass by. So when I'm done with everything I have to do I start to pack up to leave. Aria had dropped me off after school, so it's safe to say that Aunt Ella would give me a ride home.

As I'm heading out the door I hear my name. Turning around I see Ezra walking out of his building next door. "All done with work?" He asks as he walks over to me. He looks pretty exhausted.

I nod. "Yea." I lock the door behind me. "What's up?"

He shifts awkwardly from leg to leg, as if anxious about something. "I'm just heading to the Brew. Would you like to join me?"

"Oh." I say. "Actually I'm heading there to meet up with my aunt."

"Perfect timing, we can walk together."

I smile. "Sure."

He smiles and gestures his hand to the side. "Lady's first."

I laugh a bit. "Such a gentleman."

He laughs and follows next to me. "How's everything?"

I nod. "Everything is okay. Senior year is a bit tougher than I hoped though."

He slowly nods. "Yea. I remember that feeling."

"Have I told you that I finally started reading Divergent?"

"You did?"

I nod. "It's pretty good."

"Told you you'd love it."

I smile. "How are things with Ria?"

It's dark out but the lamps make it easy to see that he is blushing. "Everything is great."

I nod. "It's good to see that she still has you after everything that has happened."

"Can't get rid of me that easily." He smiles. "But I'm really glad that she still has you."

"She'll always have me."

It gets quiet for a second. "Well yea, but it was almost possible she didn't. You know that scared her really bad."

"I know. But I'm here. She keeps blaming herself."

"Because she feels if it wasn't that they got you involved you wouldn't have been in that mess. She wouldn't be her without you around. You're her other half, Jessie."

I get quiet for a second, nodding slowly. "She's mine too. It's not her fault though. I keep telling her that. And she doesn't have to worry about not having me in her life because I'm fine."

"Are you?"

"I'm here aren't I?"

He half smiles. "That's not what I mean."

"I have my moments." I say as we get to the Brew. "I'm taking it one step at a time, but I'm okay."

He holds open the door for me and I walk inside. "Can I get you something?" He asks.

"No, Ezra. You don't have to do that."

"I know. But I want to."

I half smile and look over where I notice Aunt Ella is sitting.

He turns to my gaze and smiles. "Go on. Just tell me what you want and I'll bring it to you."

I smile a bit. "You're too sweet."

"This is how I get you to like me."

I laugh. "Well as long as you don't hurt Aria I'll continue to like you."

He smiles and I tell him what I want. Then I head over to Aunt Ella. She's in the middle of reading a book and I feel a bit bad interrupting her. Some people don't like to be bothered while reading. But I slowly sit in the chair across from her at the table she's at, watching her for a few seconds before she looks up and notices me.

"Hey." I smile.

She smiles back, "Hi, sweetie."

"Couldn't do that at your apartment?" I ask as I point to the book in her hands.

She shrugs. "A little lonely there by myself lately."

I give her an apologetic look. "I should visit more."

"You have a lot to do. You go to school and work. I can imagine how exhausted you are by the end of the day." She stares me down for a few seconds. "I can see the tiredness in your eyes right now. You look like you are ready for bed."

I laugh. "You have no idea."

She smiles. "So how was work."

"Exhausting."

She laughs a little, "You need to give yourself a break."

"I'm fine." She gives me a look, so I change the subject. "Aria told me that Hackett wants to see you tomorrow. Is everything okay?"

Her face drops a bit, but then she recovers. "Yea it's fine."

I try to continue but then a deep voice comes from behind me, "Hello."

We both look to where the voice comes from. Ezra has a slightly awkward smile and I can't help but try not to laugh as I turn back to Aunt Ella. She's giving me a weird look, like she's uncomfortable.

She stares back up above my head to him. "Hello."

He walks over and hands me my coffee and I smile. "Thanks."

"You two were meeting here?" She asks a bit confused.

"Oh, no." I say, shaking my head. "I was walking out of the store at the same time he came out of his apartment. We walked together and he offered to get me something."

"Oh, I see." She half smiles at him. "That was very nice of you."

He smiles. "So you discovered my office." He pauses for a second. "This is where I see some of the students I started tutoring."

"Are we going to have a turf war?" She asks.

I laugh a little at the same time Ezra does. "No, no. I don't think so." He just stands there quietly for a second. "Um…I wanted to talk to you about Emily."

I get the hint that it's probably not my place to interfere in this conversation, so I start to get up. "I totally forgot that I needed to talk to Toby about something. I'm going to run upstairs real quick. I'll meet you here when I'm done." I look at Aunt Ella, who gives me a look of not wanting me to leave. "Is that okay?"

She forces out a smile and nods. "Of course."

"Thanks for the coffee, Ezra."

He smiles. "You're welcome."

"See you later."

"Bye."

I head off towards the back of the Brew to the stairs that leads to the loft upstairs. I'm pretty sure Toby isn't home, so I just planned on hanging on the top of the stairs until it seems like enough time has passed. But for the hell of it I knock on the door and it opens up.

"Jessie." Toby says in surprise. "Hey."

"Oh…I didn't think you'd answer."

He half smiles. "Why?"

"Thought you'd be with Spencer."

"Well I'm home." He says. "What's up."

"I had to make an excuse to get out of a conversation I felt I shouldn't have been listening to between Ezra and my aunt."

His eyes widen a bit. "Your aunt is talking to Ezra?"

I nod, "Downstairs."

"Wow."

I slowly nod. "Yep."

"And I was your excuse to leave."

I smile a bit. "Guilty."

He laughs. "Come on in. I'm just flipping through the channels."

I stay there with him for maybe fifteen minutes as we watch a bit of Criminal Minds. It was such an intense episode, but I can feel myself drifting off to sleep as I rest my head onto my fist while my elbow is on the armrest of the sofa. That's when my phone rings and I see that Aunt Ella left me a text to come down. So I get up and thank him for being my escape from that awkwardness.

"You're welcome. Thanks for the company." He says when I start to walk out the door.

"No problem. We gotta hang out more."

"For sure. Just let me know." He hugs me. "Talk to you later."

"Bye." I smile and head downstairs to meet with Aunt Ella.

I sit with Aunt Ella at the Brew for about an hour, just catching up on things. It's sad that I see her every day at school but yet it feels like we don't talk anymore unless it has to do with school.

When I get home I'm feeling a little light headed and my stomach is bothering me. Most likely from doing too much in one day and the coffee probably didn't sit well with my stomach. Maybe I do need a break.

"Hey Jessie." Mike says when I walk through the front door.

I look up and see him standing in the middle of the steps. "Hey, what you doing?"

"Was head up to bed from the family room."

"Oh." I head to the stairs and follow him up them. "Is Aria home?"

"Not yet. She didn't come home after school, most likely with the girls or Ezra." We get to the top and he turns to me.

"Safe bet is on Ezra."

He nods, "I'd take that bet."

I half laugh, "Well I'm going to head to bed. I'm exhausted."

"Yea." He nods in agreement. "You look pretty dead."

"Thanks." I laugh.

He laughs too, "Well you do."

"Haven't had much sleep for the past few days."

"You need to start coming home earlier."

"Probably, but the store won't pay itself."

"I get that. But you need to give yourself more than once or twice every other week off when you feel like it. You need to rest."

"I'll rest when I'm dead."

He smiles and shakes his head, "You sound like Uncle Joey."

I slightly smile, "That was dad's motto."

He nods, "Yes. Yes it was."

I give him a hug, "See you in the morning."

We pull away. "Goodnight." He turns and walks away."

"Night." Then I turn the other way and head into my room.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello Liars. Happy PLL Day!**

 **Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not take credit for Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Owned by Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

I hear Aria's alarm go off the next morning. It makes my head pound so bad that I have to cover my ears to keep the noise away.

"Mmm." I groan and roll over towards her bed.

I see her reach over for her phone and snooze it like she always does, then she goes back to sleep. I close my eyes and try to do the same, but I'm half asleep the whole ten minutes as I hear her alarm go off again. I open my eyes and see her reach for her phone again as she turns it off, stretches and sits up. I know the routine, so I close my eyes again and wait for her to walk over to my phone to turn it off.

This time I fall asleep, so once she is done she wakes me up like she always does. "Jessie." She says softly. I open my eyes and see her blurry face come into view. "Time to get up." She's crouches down on the side of my bed.

I start to sit up but the room spins and I fall back onto my side. "I don't feel good." I say in a groggy voice, putting my hand to my throbbing head. I have a headache and it feels like it is going to explode.

"What's wrong?"

"My head hurts." I swallow and pain shoots up it. "And my throat."

"Move your hand for me?" She says in her concerned voice. I take my hand off my head as she gets up and sits on my bed. Then she puts the back of her hand to my forehead. "You feel a bit warm." She says. "And you look pale."

"Ughh." I say annoyed. "I can't be sick. I have two tests today, and I'm supposed to be helping you spy on Jenna after school."

"Let me go get the thermometer and see what your temperature is."

I roll onto my back when she gets up and see the ceiling spin. _Great_. I think. _My first day of actual mystery work on Jenna and I get sick_.

"Here, open up." She says when she gets back. I slowly sit up and open my mouth so that she can put the thermometer in, then we wait for a little. "You don't have to help today."

"But I want to." I mumble through the stick in my mouth.

She leans in and grabs it from me. "98." She says.

"See." I start to pull off the blankets. "No fever."

"I think you should stay home."

"But I want to help."

"Jessie."

"Ria…I want to help."

She gives me a look. "How about you stay home and feel better for later? If you go to school you are going to feel worse and you'll end up wanting to go home instead of coming with us."

"Hey." Uncle Byron's voice comes from the door. "You guys okay?"

She looks at me and gives me an apologetic look. "Jessie isn't feeling good."

"Sick, kiddo?"

"I'm fine." I say, giving her an _I'm going to kill you_ look

"You look pale." He says.

"I can't afford to be sick today. I have two tests and a whole bunch of stuff to do after school."

"I think you having a lot of things to do every day is what is making you sick." He walks inside our room. "Take a rest day."

"Can I still go out later on?"

He gives me a look. "Maybe. We'll see how you're feeling."

I lay back down. "Fine."

He smiles. "Get some sleep. I'll come check on you on my lunch break."

"Okay."

He smiles and walks out.

I look at Aria. "I hate you."

She smiles. "If you weren't going to listen to me, I knew you'd listen to dad."

"If I don't get to help later I'm going to be pissed at you."

She smiles again. "I'll get you out of the house."

"Promise?"

She nods and kisses me on the forehead. "Yes. Now go back to sleep."

I turn towards the wall and she pulls up the blanket to my shoulders. As soon as I close my eyes I'm out.

Sometime later I jolt awake from the sound of the door slamming downstairs and hear footsteps on the stairs. I'm still feeling a bit tired to fully wake up so I close them since I barely have the energy to keep them open. So I just ignore the noise until I hear it come into my room. That's when I'm more aware and decide to open them again. Aunt Ella is standing there.

"Hi, sweetie." She walks over to my bed and sits on the edge. "I brought you some soup from the Grille."

I turn over from the wall and slowly sit up. "What are you doing here?" I grab the container of soup from her.

She smiles. "Aria told me that you stayed home sick today. So I thought I'd come check on you."

I smile. "That was nice of you."

"I know your uncle was supposed to be passing by on his lunch break, but I asked if I could do it."

I smile a bit as I eat. My headache went away, but my throat is still a little scratchy and now my nose is a bit stuffy.

She puts her hand on my head. "You're a little warm."

"Yea, that's what Aria said too." She half smiles as I continue to eat. "I just want to let you know that I'm going out later."

"You really shouldn't be going anywhere."

"I have stuff to do."

"Jessie, if it's work related you need to slow down. You are working yourself to death."

I look at her. "Dad would have done the same if he was still here."

She gives me a sad look, but then smiles. "Your dad would have been very proud that you are following his footsteps. But he would have been making you slow down."

"Only because I'm a kid."

"No, because you are his daughter and he would have wanted you to act your age and have fun. Not working as if you are an adult and out of high school."

I half smile. "Fine, no work stuff. But I'm still gonna go out if I'm feeling better."

She laughs. "You are so stubborn."

"I am my dad's daughter."

She nods. "That you are." She brushes her thumb on my face. "Well I have to go back to the school. If you need me I'm a phone call away."

I watch her get up and grab the container. "Will do."

"I love you."

I smile. "I love you too."

She walks out and when I hear the door I get up to head to the bathroom. When I get back into bed I grab my phone and text Aria. "You're coming to get me after school right?"

She's still on her lunch so she answers back right away. "Yea, if you are asleep I'll wake you up. How are you feeling?"

"A little better." I write back. "Your mom just brought me some soup."

"Aww. Glad you had some quality time with her." I go to write back but then she sends something else. "Which reminds me…I heard that you and Ezra had a little one on one talk last night. Then some awkwardness of leaving him alone with my mom at the Brew."

I laugh to myself, then type. "Yea. I ran into him after I closed the store up. We walked to the Brew and your mom was there. The convo he was about to start had to do with Em and I felt it was private. So I made an excuse and left till they were done."

I didn't get her respond back because I lay my head onto my pillow and knock out. My dream is actually normal for once. No car accident, no Mona. It's a randomly made up dream of me hanging with the girls at the beach, splashing water at each other and making a sand castle. I don't wake up again until Aria gets home from school. She shakes me softly awake and I open my eyes. Not only is she sitting on my bed, but Hanna is standing beside her.

"Hello sickling." Hanna says with a smile.

I laugh, but then it comes out as a cough. "Hi, Han." My voice sounds like it's going away. "Oh no."

"Okay. Forget it." Aria says, shaking her head. "You look worse and you sound worse."

"No." I sit up and my body aches, but I don't tell her that. "I'm coming."

"Can't you just listen to me for once in your life and stay out of it this one time?"

"Ria…" I get out through my sore throat. "I'm always out of it. I wasn't allowed to do any adventurous stuff last time. If you've done it at all this time around I haven't been there." I grab the blanket to pull it off. "I'm going."

She looks at Hanna, who shrugs. "We aren't doing more than sitting in my car anyway. We don't even know specifics of what Jenna is doing at 4:15."

Whatever it is they are looking out for Jenna about it has to do with some note that Aria found while in her house when she was practicing with her. I don't care what it is I just want to help, even if it scares me to get involved.

Aria looks at me and sighs. "Fine, but you do as we say. Okay?"

I nod. "Yea. Got it."

So I get up out of my bed and get dressed. I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth and then follow them outside. Aria sits in the passenger seat of Hanna's car and I jump into the back seat. I watch the window as the outside world passes by us until we get across the street from Jenna's house, which happens to be next door from Emily's. Why didn't they just let Em do the spying? I have no idea.

We sit in the car in silence for awhile after Jenna gets home from school. It has to be a good ten minutes of not saying a word as we watch her house. This feels completely creepy and not normal to be doing.

"Well this is fun." My voice is almost completely gone now.

Aria turns around. "Told you it wasn't going to be too much action. You might as well have stayed home."

My phone vibrates and I take it out of my pocket. I see it's a blocked number. I'm so not in the mood for more people being assholes about what I went through. But when I read it I see it isn't someone random from town.

" _Getting involved in things you shouldn't will get you into trouble. -A_ " My heart sinks.

"Jessie?"

I look at her. "Huh?"

"What is it?"

I shake my head. "Nada. Nothing."

"Don't lie to me." Speaking Spanish or just switching between Spanish and English is almost always a giveaway for me. "Your face turned really white. Which shouldn't have been possible because being sick made you pale to begin with."

I debate as I look at my phone. But then I give up and hand it to her. My headache is coming back as I squeeze my fingers to the top of my nose between my eyes.

When she looks at the text her face drops. "I knew we shouldn't have got you into our mess again." She shows it to Hanna.

"It's fine. Stop worrying." I grab back my phone and put it in my pocket. "If it's Jenna we'll deal with it."

Aria gives me a look like she kind of wants to punch me in the face for being so stubborn. But instead she just says. "You look like you are going to pass out. Why don't you lay down?"

"But…"

"If something happens and you're asleep we'll tell you. Relax. Not much is happening it's only 3:45. We got time."

I nod, which makes my head hurt more by doing so and gets me dizzy. "Yea…yea okay. I turn my body to stretch my legs out. Then I slide down and pull my legs up a bit since I'm taller than the length of the car.

Aria smiles at me and then looks back out the windshield to watch Jenna's house. I close my eyes to keep the dizziness to a minimum. My head is pounding so bad that I'm about ready to bang my head against something. The image of that text comes through my closed eyes and it sets my anxiety on high for a few seconds. I haven't gotten a text from _A_ since Mona sent that picture of Aria and Ezra kissing in his car last school year. But I know it's not her because Hanna's seen her locked up in Radley.

Now my heart starts to race a bit because thinking about her makes it worse. I take a few deep breaths and try to ignore the sounds I hear surrounding me. Like the cars passing by, or Aria and Hanna talking to each other. Eventually I'm able to block everything out and that helps me relax.

I'm just half asleep enough to hear bits and pieces of Aria and Hanna's conversation throughout the time we are waiting for 4:15 to come. They are saying something about Emily probably being tired of being called _Poor Em_ , and something about Ezra and her mom having a conversation about Aunt Ella helping Em with her exam by changing her grade.

Then I hear Hanna say. "Look."

While Aria gets out. "I guess we are going for a ride."

That gets my attention as my eyes open and I see them putting on their seatbelts. "What's going on?"

Aria looks in the back seat. "Jenna is getting into a taxi."

I sit up and see the taxi driver close the door behind him and drives. Hanna puts her car in drive and follows behind them. Now things are getting good.


	14. Chapter 14

**How's everyone enjoying this story? Let me know in an review!**

 **I do not take credit for anything Pretty Little Liars related.**

 **All ownership to Sara Shepard and Freeform.** **Thanks to everyone who has kept up with this!**

* * *

I can't take my eyes off of the taxi cab that Jenna is in a few cars ahead of us. I'm not sure how long it is but I do know that we aren't in Rosewood anymore, most likely in Philly as we pull up across from her cab. We watch her get out and she heads over to a building as she walks up the steps and disappears inside. How insane is this that we have to follow her just to get some answers? Apparently going up to her and saying that we know she isn't blind to get to the bottom of this is not a thing in their planning.

I take off my seatbelt and slide closer to be in between their front seats. I rest my hand on Aria's seat and squint to see the name of the building. "Where did she go?"

"A medical building?" Hanna says, looking at us in disbelief. "All this for a crummy doctor's appointment." Now she looks a bit frustrated. "Seriously? What a rip."

"Let's just go over to the Directory and see what kind of doctor Dr. Cobb is." Aria tells her.

"Does it matter what kind of doctor it is?" I ask.

She turns to me. "Yes, which you should be at a doctor right now, because you are getting worse."

I give her a look. "Too late now."

"No. I'll tell mom to take you when we get back. There is no way you are lasting through the rest of the day like this. Your voice is practically nonexistent right now and you look like you are about to be completely sick."

"Guys." Hanna says. We both look at her. "Stop, okay?" She looks back out the window. "What do we do?"

"Give her a minute to get out of the lobby, then we'll go." Aria tells her.

We sit in silence for about a minute. In that time I'm watching the front door to the doctor's building. A few times things distract me, like a car passing by or people talking, even birds. But in the end I'd put my attention right back to that door. That is until I see Aria's face gets suspicious when she looks to the side.

She taps Hanna's arm. "Look." She says nodding over towards Hanna's window.

I turn to where they are looking to see a blue mustang is coming out from a side street next to us. When the car turns onto the street my mouth drops, because the person driving the car completely takes me off guard.

"Oh my God!" Aria half screams in a hushed voice. "It's Jenna."

"Call Spencer and Em!" Hanna yells.

Aria takes out her phone and I hear the clicking sound on her phone. Then Hanna starts to drive and I can't help but watch the blue car with a not so blind Jenna driving in front of us.

"Spence, call Emily." Aria says. "Tell her we are following Jenna."

"This is crazy." I say as loud as I can through my almost gone voice.

"Welcome to our crazy life." Hanna says. "You're going to hate it."

At some point Jenna parks her car, but instead of us stopping, Hanna continues to the next corner to turn around. Then she parks her car across the street a bit farther down from Jenna's and we wait in that spot for about ten minutes, just watching the building Jenna walked into. I can't make out what the place is but we can't do anything until Spencer and Em meet up with us.

I yawn and then cough. It was not a pleasant sound and I can feel something in the back of my throat trying to come out that makes me want to throw up. "So what's the plan?" I ask hoarsely minutes later.

"Not sure." Aria says. "But you're staying in here." She turns to look at me.

"What? No way."

"You look like shit, Jessie. You can barely even keep your eyes open."

"Hey." I hear Spencer's voice come from the open window on Hanna's side.

I look over and see her and Emily standing beside Hanna's car. They both look at me in a bit of confusion. "I thought you were sick." Emily asks.

"I…"

"She is." Aria says for me. "But she's stubborn and now she's even worse than she was when we got her."

"Stop bossing me around."

She gives me a look as she opens the door. "Just stay here." She says in a serious tone.

"Ria."

"What we say goes, remember?"

"But…"

"No." She says. "Just…please, okay? We won't be long."

I look at the other girls for help, but they all just give me half smiles. "Fine." I look back at her and wipe away some sweat from my forehead. I most likely have a fever now and it's my own fault. "But if anything goes wrong you let me know. Or if I try to get in contact after at least fifteen minutes of you being gone and you don't answer after five, I'm coming to get you."

She nods. "Fair enough."

I know that won't happen though. I'm feeling like complete shit now and I am almost positive I won't be able to get out of this car on my own. But I wanted to get my point across so I nod in agreement. "Okay. Be careful."

"Here." Hanna says. "I'll leave the keys in the car. But keep the doors locked, and if you need to put the AC on or something then do so."

"Yes ma'am."

She smiles and gets out with Aria.

I watch them walk away from the car and down the street. They don't walk all the way to where Jenna's car is but they stop a few cars before it. I can't hear what they are saying but Spencer turns around, yelling something and flapping her arms in frustration. Obviously something upset her. But I said I wouldn't get out, so I don't.

I'm about to look away when Jenna comes out of the building she went into. I don't know why I think it's a good idea but I grab my phone and click on the camera, zooming it in at her. I record her walking without her sunglasses or cane as she gets to her car and into the driver's seat, taking a few pictures as well. The girls stand there though, they don't bother to make a move and I'm curious on what they are going to do as I put my phone away. Then Hanna finally starts to walk and my heart races. Spencer runs after her and grabs her arm, pulling her a bit towards her. Hanna turns around and they start talking. Clearly Hanna is mad because she is yelling loud enough that I can hear her voice travel, but not enough that I can make out her words. Then as soon as she is done screaming she turns around to Jenna's car and storms over. No one bothers to stop her this time.

Jenna doesn't seem to notice until Hanna practically throws herself in front of the car. My heart sinks and I watch as Jenna's break lights go off shortly after, just in time to avoid hitting her. Hanna has a bit of a smile and says something as she puts her hands on the hood of the car. Then Jenna gets out and all of them follow her into the alleyway not too far away. I can barely see any of them from where I am but it's better than not seeing them at all. I want to check and see what is going on but I know I can't. Plus the thought of going into another alley after what happened the last time I was in one makes my anxiety rise.

They are in there for maybe ten minutes. In between that time I'm getting texts from Blake. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Eh." I put. "Like shit. I think I may have to go to the doctor."

"Aw that sucks. Guess coming to pass by is out then?"

"Maybe later. I'm gonna get some sleep and see how I feel when I wake up."

When I look up sometime later I see the girls walk out with Jenna from the alley. She gets into her car and they walk back over towards me. They stop next to the car and say some random things that I'm having a hard time keeping up with. Something about how they can't believe they have to keep this secret from everyone just because they owe her. So naturally when Hanna and Aria get inside I ask what happened and they give the simple answer.

"Apparently someone is after her and the only way to stay safe is to pretend she's blind." Aria says.

"And you guys can't say anything?"

"No." Hanna says a bit pissed.

I slowly nod, "Well I did something completely impulsive and I'm not sure if you are going to love or hate me for it."

They both look at each other in confusion, "What did you do?" Hanna asks curiously.

I press on the app for my camera roll, showing them the pictures and video I took of her. For a second they don't say anything as they hand it back to me. "It was stupid right?" I ask.

"No." Aria says, shaking her head and smiles. "It was smart."

"Really?" I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

"Yea." Hanna says as she starts to follow behind Spencer's car to head home. "It gives us leverage in case she does something to screw us over."

I smile, "Glad I could help."

"And you managed to get this without her seeing you. That's even better and keeps you out of it." She adds.

It gets quiet again, so I go with. "So did she bring Em to the cemetery?"

"No." Aria says. "She just found Emily sometime after midnight wandering the streets drunk. She tried to take her home but Em jumped out at a red light and took off."

"So back to square one."

Aria nods. "Kinda." She turns to me. "But now at least we know that Jenna wasn't part of this. Which means she's most likely not _A_."

"Great." I say and look out the window. "Another dead end."

"Stay positive." She says.

"Trying."

"Well I'm not sure if you knew this but we found out that Melissa lost her baby way before June."

I look at her. "What?"

"Spencer checked for records and apparently there was never any Melissa Hastings at that hospital in Hanover. And she didn't check out of the resort until the thirteenth. Her mom however, checked in on the tenth."

"I'm so not able to keep up with this."

"Us either." Hanna says. "But that's not too important until Spencer can find out why she lied."

Let me backtrack a bit. Melissa had supposedly lost her and Ian's baby to a miscarriage in June when she went to a resort in Hanover to get away from all this mess because she was involved with Garrett just before he got arrested. Apparently it was their mom's idea for Melissa to take a break, but when she got back she wasn't pregnant. Not only was she not pregnant but she had no baby with her. Now I'm finding out that she lost the baby sometime before she left and lied about it. Why? Who the hell knows. Everyone in this freaking town is crazy.

I look out the window, shaking my head. _I need to get out of this insane town_. I think to myself.

"Hey." Aria says, touching my leg.

I turn back to her. "Yea?"

"Sorry I got upset with you for coming."

I half smile. "It's cool. I'm sorry I was being a pain."

She shrugs. "You wanted to help." She stops for a second. "I still hate the idea though."

I nod. "I know, but gotta deal with it."

She laughs a bit as I cough that horrible cough again. "You're going to a doctor when we get home."

"Yea." I nod "I was thinking the same thing."

After we get home Aria begs her dad to take me to the doctor because I'm even worse than I was an hour before. Uncle Byron was home earlier than planned so he takes a break from doing work stuff to take me and it turns out that I caught the flu and now have a 102 fever. I'm given a note to stay out of school until Monday, which is fine with me I guess because it allows me to get some rest from all the hecticness that has been going on.

I'm so weak from this flu that I can barely get out of bed once I lay down when we get back. It gets so bad that I can't eat or drink anything without throwing it back up. Everything sounds ten times louder to me than it actually is. My throat is on fire as it hurts to swallow and I can't even talk anymore. My nose is stuffed up and runny, my vision is barely focused because the light hurts my eyes, and my head won't stop pounding. It feels the same way it did after I got hit across the face with the crowbar.

Basically, having the flu is a nightmare and I cannot wait to get over it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Alright, here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **I do not own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please drop a review and let me know what you think!**

* * *

I'm in the middle of trying to get through my history homework Saturday afternoon when Aria walks into our room after coming home from Ezra's. I didn't get to do any of it from the past couple days of her bringing homework home for me since Thursday when I first stayed home. I was so sick that Thursday after spying on Jenna and yesterday that I was barely even able to sit up without passing out.

"Did you notice that dad bought new clothes and…whoa, why is it so dark in here?" she says when she sees that it practically looks like it's turning night rather than it being the middle of the day. Today I was determined to get some of my homework done, but I have to do it with all the curtains closed and only the lamp by my bed on to keep focused.

I look away from my history notebook as she turns on the main light. I squint and put my hand over my eyes, "The light bothers me." My voice is still practically gone and hurts to talk, but I do it anyway. "Can you turn it off, please?"

"Still?" She turns it off and walks over to my bed.

"Yea, doesn't take two days to get rid of the flu." She's just about to sit when I say, "No. Ria, come on. You know you can catch this if you're too close."

She slightly smiles and sits beside me anyway. "So?"

"So I don't want you to get sick. It's no fun."

She ignores what I say completely and starts over her question from when she walked in. "So did you notice that dad bought new clothes and cologne?"

I give her a look, because I don't like that she changed the subject. But I know she's just as stubborn as me so I just turn my gaze back to writing definitions in my notebook. "Considering I've been cooped up in this room all day because I'm sick I'll have to go with no."

"Oh."

"But I do think I know what it's for." I say, still scribbling in my book.

"How?"

"Heard him on the phone earlier." I scratch off a word as I make a mistake. This is why I prefer pencil. "He's going on a date."

She's quiet for a second, making me look up at her. Her eyebrows are slanted in confusion. "With who?"

I shrug. "I have no idea."

"What if it's Meredith?"

My hear sinks as I didn't even think it was a possibility that she would be in the picture. I open my mouth to answer, then close it because it's too much to think about. How could he go back to her just because Aria admitted that she was the one who messed up his office? It's Meredith's fault that their family spiraled.

Finally I clear my throat, "There's no way he'd do that."

"Don't put it passed dad to do something as crazy as to date someone who helped ruin his marriage."

"That's really messed up if he is."

It gets quiet for a few seconds so I go back to my homework. I'm just finishing the last definition when I feel the bed move and Aria sits up against the wall, placing her legs slowly over mine. She grabs her bag and looks through it, then takes something out and hands it to me.

I look at the small piece of what looks like candy in her hand. "What is it?"

"Cough drop. You sound like you're dying."

I laugh, which makes me cough. "Thanks." I grab it from her and unwrap it. "Makes me sound attractive."

"You totally are. I'm sure Blake would find it adorable." She raises her eyebrows and gives me her _I'm just joking_ look.

I shake my head, "No. Don't you start with that now."

She smiles, "Just trying to lighten the mood."

I smile a bit, grabbing my backpack from the floor and switching my history for my english homework. "I know. It's just a sensitive subject." I start to open up the book assignment I was supposed to start reading a couple weeks ago that is due on Monday.

"Jessie, I know you're not ready but maybe hanging out with guys that aren't Andrew is a good thing."

"I do hang out with guys."

She reaches out and stops me from fiddling around with what I'm doing so that I can look at her. "Ezra, Toby and Mike don't count."

"Why?"

"Because those aren't the type of guys I'm talking about. You need to get back out there and prove to Andrew that you aren't the same person from the end of junior year. That you've got yourself settled and straightened out enough to manage a relationship again." She gives a bit of a sad look, "Even if it isn't with him."

I shake my head, "I can't just erase an entire year of my life with him, Ria. I can't start over again with someone I just found out likes me after only months of being broken up with someone that I loved…still love. It doesn't work like that."

"I know it doesn't, but you can't avoid Blake."

"I'm not going to avoid him. He's a good friend. I'm not letting that stop me from hanging with him."

After school the following Friday Aria gets a call from Hanna about wanting some company. Aria asks if I want to come so that I can get out of the house. Naturally I agree because I haven't done much since I had gotten sick. Uncle Byron made me promise to keep the store closed for another week or so to make sure I was recovered enough not to get sick again. I told him yes, but I haven't had much to do since I'm used to working most of the day, so I'm kinda tired of being in the house.

When we get there Hanna tells us that her and Caleb got into a fight about her seeing Mona. Apparently he went to Radley to talk to Mona and she flipped a shit and now she isn't allowed to have visitors anymore until the doctor says otherwise. She got upset with him for doing this and he told her off about her not thinking straight. Now she's upset because she told him to stay out of it and he stormed out.

"Every couple fights. You both just need a little time to cool off." Aria tells her.

"Yea." I agree, "He loves you. He's just trying to look out for you, especially after everything you've been through."

"Yea well Caleb's not gonna be cooling off anytime soon." Hanna says as she paces back and forth. We are sitting on the stools at her kitchen counter watching her stress out. "He doesn't understand why I need to see Mona, and it's killing me not to tell him."

"You're just trying to protect him, Han. I'm sure he'd get that." I tell her.

She shakes her head, "He wouldn't. Like you said, after last time he's even more suspicious and protective about anything that has to do with Mona."

"Maybe you should." Aria says randomly as she looks up from Hanna's laptop she's using.

We both look at her in confusion. "Maybe I should what?" Hanna asks.

"Tell him why you're going there, and about this _A_."

"Wait, are you serious?"

She nods at her, "Look, if it was up to me I'd tell Ezra. I'd have to."

I look at her, "Are you nuts?"

"No." she turns to me. "It'll help him understand."

"Understand yea, but let her do things without his help? Not likely. You know how he is."

"Yea, but at least he'd know." I give her a look and she narrows her eyes at me. "Don't start."

"What?" I say innocently, but I know that she knows what I'm thinking.

"Keeping you out of this mess is different than keeping him out of it."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is. He has tech knowledge if we need it."

"And what are you saying? That I'm just a helpless Jock who gets kidnapped?" I see Hanna give me a sad look, but also it's a warning one too because I clearly know that's not what she means and starting with her will start an argument. Aria can have a temper as bad as mine sometimes.

Aria takes a breath, "No. This is Hanna's decision to tell her boyfriend, and you're my decision to keep safe because you're like a sister to me and I love you."

"Well I love you too, but you're making it seem like I'm a piece of property and can push me around."

My anger is starting to surface now, but before I can get more into it Hanna walks around to our side of the counter and interrupts. "Why are you looking at pictures of bald fat men?" she isn't looking at me, she's staring at her laptop.

I turn my gaze away from Aria and see that she is in fact looking at random pictures of older and creepy looking guys. "What the hell are you doing?"

Her face gets a little red, "I'm looking for a guy for my mom." She turns back to the computer to ignore me. "I don't know, I just thought she could try online dating."

"She's divorced, she's not desperate." Hanna says.

"Yea." I say, "Plus she'll probably kill you if she finds out."

"Well she isn't gonna find out if none of us say anything to her." She side looks at me.

I put my hands up in surrender. "Don't look at me, lips are sealed."

She smiles, "Now help me find a good match."

She moves the computer closer so that all of us can look. They are not the best matches, I'll tell you that. They all look like they could be murderers for all we know and I'm sure Aunt Ella would not appreciate that. Then Hanna's mom walks in.

"Hey girls."

Hanna gives us a look, "Hey, mom." Her voice is a little high pitched.

"Hey, Ms. Marin." I say in a normal tone, wondering why she's acting that way.

"Hi!" Aria says loudly and closes the laptop

Ms. Marin turns from where she put her purse and looks over just as Aria does. Then she walks closer, "Okay, what don't you want me to see?"

I look at Aria, who gives me a look not to say anything. Then we look at Hanna as she says, "Nothing."

Ms. Marin gives her a suspicious look, "No more secrets, remember?"

Hanna sighs and Aria opens the laptop. The first thing to pop up is a picture of a forty something year old bald guy. "Should I be worried?"

I try not to laugh as Aria says, "I'm trying to find someone for my mom."

"Yea, preferably someone who doesn't look like a grape." Hanna adds.

We both give her a weird look, but she doesn't seem to notice. Then Aria clicks to the next picture. He looks worse than the last one.

"He's cute." Ms. Marin says. "Sort of." She adds after silence from us three.

"Mom, he has a unibrow."

"Tell your mom to use MainLineMate. It's a much better site." She smiles at us and then walks out of the kitchen.

"Well that was weird." Is all I can say.

Aria goes onto the website that Hanna's mom told her about and starts to write things on the profile for her mom. If Aunt Ella sees this she is gonna flip out. She's the type who wants to do things on her own, dating will be no different.

The next morning Aria's attempt to wake me up is to hit me awake. Except she is hitting hard and it's pissing me off. All I wanna do is sleep because I was up most of the night on the phone with Bobby. Sam is living with him so that she doesn't have to worry about dorming at Hollis and last night they got into some argument and she stormed out. He was worried and wanted to see if she was here.

First of all, them being very young and dating for only maybe what five months was probably not the best idea to consider moving in together, but I didn't bother mentioning that as I told him that I had not seen her. I was up till two, maybe three in the morning in the family room trying to calm him down so he wouldn't freak out about the fact that she still hadn't come back. When she finally did is when he allowed me to get off the phone. Now I'm being waken up earlier than I hoped after not being able to fall asleep till like five.

"Aria…what do you want?" I don't bother turning away from the wall as I close my eyes again from being exhausted.

"Spencer called. She needs us at her house ASAP."

"Why? What could she possibly need so early in the morning."

"It's after twelve, it's not that early."

I take a deep breath, "Question remains the same. What does she want."

"I don't know. That's why we need to go…now."

I roll onto my back and look at her as I stretch and rub my eyes, "You guys are killing me."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted in."

After a lot of persuasion to get me out of bed we drive over to Spencer's. Everyone is there, me, Aria, Hanna, Em and of course Spencer. We are all quiet for a good five minutes, seeming to be waiting for someone to start talking. I'm getting a little ticked off because I'm exhausted as hell and yet here I am waiting for someone to say more than silence.

"Wilden was at Radley last night." Hanna finally says. "He forced Wren to let him into Mona's room. He was there with a court order to talk to her."

"Hold on." I say, doing my usually counter act of randomly saying happy thoughts in my head to avoid that Mona's name can still set me off. "So Wren has been her doctor all this time?"

"Yes, Jessie." Hanna says. "But that's not the point."

"Focus will you?" Aria tells me.

I take a deep breath, because I'm getting fed up with being in the dark when I'm supposed to be more in the loop than last time. "I am focused. I'm just trying to get all the facts because no one seems to want to tell me every detail until I'm sitting here like an idiot not knowing what's going on." I'm standing over by the back door, staring at the backyard so I turn to look at her. She's sitting on the armrest of the sofa next to Em, while Hanna is sitting in between Em and Spencer. Spencer looks dazed out, like she's trying to wrap her mind around what's going on.

"We are trying to get you as involved as possible." Spencer says, looking down at her hands as if feeling awkward. "It's just hard for us to keep up with ourselves."

Before I can get more in Em cuts me off, "So what do you think Mona said to Wilden?"

Aria shifts her eyes away from me, "If she knows that we were at Ali's grave that night…"

"We'd be in jail right now." Spencer gets in before she can finish.

My heart sinks, "What about me?"

"What about you?" Emily asks.

"Would I be in jail too?"

Spencer hadn't been giving much eye contact through the whole conversation, but she finally turns to me. "No."

"Really?" I ask a bit shocked.

She nods, "Because we wouldn't let you take blame for this. We did put you up to everything. We would say we didn't tell you."

I really shouldn't be surprised about this as my mouth slowly drops, "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course we would. This is not your problem."

"Maybe not, but I wouldn't let you guys rot in jail for something you were framed for."

"It doesn't matter." Hanna gets in and we all look at her. " _A_ hasn't turned us in, and as far as we know Mona doesn't know so Wilden doesn't either. Right now we need to focus on how to get to the bottom of this."

"Okay." I say, "But we don't even know who is behind this, or where to start."

Hanna looks around, we are all stumped on an answer. "We need to find out who the Black Swan is. Like now."

"And how do you expect us to do that?" I ask, my eyebrows slanted in confusion.

"I think we need to find out when Melissa lost her baby." Aria says.

"Yea, she's right Spence. Melissa lied for a reason." Emily says. "We need to know what it is."

"Yea, but we know why Mona hated us." She says and stands up, "Why would my sister wanna torture us?"

"Because, you made out with her fiancé and broke up their engagement." Hanna says.

"Okay yea, but that was me."

"And she knows that we have the video that puts her in Ali's room the night that she was murdered." Aria tells her.

"And she fits the costume." Hanna adds.

Spencer turns around and walks over to the table by the stairs, opening up the dresser and pulls something out. She turns to us, dangling keys from her finger. "We're going to Philly."


	16. Chapter 16

**Please leave a review and let me know what you think of this story. Would really appreciate it!**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **All belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

You'd think I'd be used to this whole sneaking around and spying on people thing by now, but no. It's just as ridiculous, weird and not normal to do as it was when we spied on Jenna and when I was helping them a bit last year. But of course, the girls have been going through this whole thing a lot longer than I have and kind of have their impulses to do stuff like this to get to the bottom of things.

Before we leave they start to babble again and I just stare out the back window towards the guest house, completely toning them out because I feel this is insane to do. We are about to technically break into Melissa's apartment just to make sure she isn't Black Swan or the new _A_. This is how they get themselves into trouble.

When I finally decide to check back into their convo is when I feel a tap on my arm. I turn around to see that Em had got up off the couch, looking a bit concerned. "You okay?"

I half smile, "Yea, yea I'm good." I turn fully around to look at the others, trying to make it seem like I'm alright. So I add, "So what's the plan?"

The plan's simple enough. Spencer is going to have Melissa meet her somewhere away from her apartment. Then the rest of us will go in to check out if she is the new _A_ or was the Black Swan.

"Can I go with Spencer?"

They all look at each other, then back to me. "Sure." Spencer says, "Any particular reason?"

I shrug, "Just don't feel comfortable snooping around someone's house without them knowing."

They all nod, "Fair enough." She says, "You can ride with me and the girls will head to the apartment."

We all separate into two different cars and follow each other into the city. When we get to a certain point Spencer turns and the girls keep going. We end up on the main street of Philly with options of food places and a movie theater. She parks her car across the street from the theater and we just sit there for a few minutes as she lets Melissa know that we are here.

I'm drumming my fingers awkwardly on the dashboard while she does that. Then turn to look at her, "I think this is a ridiculous idea."

She looks at me and shrugs, "I don't think she has anything to do with this. But the others won't be convinced until they don't find anything to link her to it."

"You guys need to stop going on impulses to be detectives. It is not your job to figure this out."

"And whose job is it, Jessie? Because I don't know if you've noticed but the cops kind of suck at their job."

I give a sad look, "I know." I shift my body to the side so that I'm looking at her better. "It's just that you guys throw yourselves into these situations and then end up in more trouble than you should be. If Melissa finds out she is going to be pissed. Whether she is part of this _A_ thing or not."

She watches me for a few seconds, "I know that, Jessie, but we are just trying to figure this out without getting anyone else involved or hurt. We already learned our lesson with Dr. Sullivan, Toby and you. I will not make that mistake again."

As I'm opening my mouth to say something my phone starts to ring. I ignore it so that we can continue talking but she just smiles and tells me to check who it is. I don't want to though because we are in the middle of a serious conversation, but the look she is giving me is the same familiar one that she always has when she doesn't want to talk anymore.

"Who is it?" she asks when I take it out of my pocket.

"Uncle Byron."

"Answer it."

"In the middle of us doing something _A_ related?"

She smiles. "Jessie, we are just meeting up with Melissa. The others are doing all the sneaky work. Just make something up, he won't even know."

"Oh fine." I had missed the call from debating whether to answer it, but I call him back.

"Hello?" he says on the other end.

"Hey, sorry I missed your call. What's up?"

"Where are you and Aria?"

"Going to Philly to catch a movie with the girls and then grabbing some pizza." I hear him sigh as my heart races. "What's wrong?"

"Why do you girls have this urge to pick up and leave without telling us? And then to go all the way to Philly."

"Uncle Byron, we are old enough to go off to the city on our own."

"Yes." He says, as if holding back the urge to yell at me. "But after what happened at the end of the school year I'd feel a lot better if I at least was told where my daughter and niece were going to be when they take off out of town."

"Okay." I say, nodding to myself. "I'm sorry." I look at Spencer, she's tapping her watch as if saying to hurry up. "Was there something you needed?"

"I wanted to see what you guys were in the mood to eat for dinner when I get home from work. But clearly you already have that covered."

I have a bit of guilt go through me. Not only because I'm lying to him, but because I'm lying to someone who cares about me and I'm sucked into a mess where I can't tell anyone what I'm really doing. "Sorry. Do you want us to bring back some of Johnny's Pizza for you and Mikey?"

"No, no. that's okay. Just be back no later than twelve okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"I love you."

"Love you too." I hang up and look at Spencer. "I hate lying to him."

She gives me a sad look, "I know. We all hate lying to the people we love, but this isn't something we can just blurt out."

"I know."

She gives me a slight smile. "Well…come on. We gotta meet Melissa."

We both get out of the car and head across the street. I'm a bit nervous, because this is my first actual help work I'm doing. Since I was sick when we were after Jenna it doesn't count, because I was just in the car the whole time feeling like I was about to die from the flu while they did all the work. Now I'm actually in the mix of this and I'm not sure whether I'm happy about it or not. Last time I just helped put messages together and that got me thrown into the trunk of a car. If Melissa isn't _A_ or Black Swan we have no idea what we are in for with this new mastermind of a stalker. For all we know it could really get us killed, not just kidnapped. I think that's what scares me the most, what if things get worse than last time? But I love these girls. So I don't want to disappoint them.

What feels like ten minutes later Spencer's phone rings. I look over at her as she takes it out of her back pocket, "Hello?" she looks at me when it gets quiet and mouths " _Hanna_." Then she turns away, "No, I'll text you when she gets here." Quiet for a second and then she hangs up the phone.

"What was that about?"

"She said that Melissa left. Wanted to know if they should go in now."

Twenty minutes passes by so slow, and Melissa has still not met up with us yet. I get so bored that I start to count how many blue cars pass us. I get to about fifteen and then switch to punching Spencer on the arm whenever a Volkswagen passes us. She isn't very thrilled with my impulsive way of being bored as she gives me a warning look after six hits and I go back to counting colored cars again.

 _BING!_ Her phone goes off and she takes it out. "Ugh, Melissa forgot her wallet and has to go back."

"This is ridiculous."

"You know she's forgetful."

"Yea, but twenty minutes later realizing she forgot something? Come on."

She starts texting, "I gotta let them know that she's on her way back."

"I doubt they'd be stupid enough to go inside knowing that you told them to wait for your text."

She turns to me and gives me a look, "Have you met our friends?"

I start to think, then slowly nod, getting a little more nervous than I was before. "Yea, text them. Hanna especially is impatient."

"Exactly."

Emily doesn't answer her text, so I attempt it with Aria. Still nothing, so she decides to call Hanna. The problem is that it goes to voicemail when Spencer tries and now we think we know what's going on.

"They went inside." Spencer says as her face gets pale. "Why else would they not answer?"

"If your sister finds them in her apartment we are all screwed."

"I'm calling Melissa."

"Why?" I say in a scared voice.

"I'm going to tell her not to worry about it and I'll pay for whatever we are going to do."

Luckily when she calls it happens to be that Melissa tells her she is already on her way to us and found her wallet. Clearly she didn't find anything else, like people inside her place since she didn't say anything and five minutes later I get a text from Aria saying that they didn't get caught. Thank freaking God for that. Those girls really need to learn to stop impulsively doing something, especially when it's during a thought out plan.

When she finally decides to show up we go to get some ice cream. The first thought was a movie but she was late for the time we wanted to go for, so this was our second best idea. I feel super weird being in the same place with someone we are actually trying to pin being _A_ on. It feels wrong being here distracting her so that the girls can look through her personal space. Plus I haven't actually hung out with Melissa like this in a really long time, doesn't feel normal anymore.

"So how are you, Jessie? How is the new school year treating you?" Melissa asks me when she realizes how distracted I am.

I look up from my half eaten ice cream, "What?" I ask confused.

Spencer gives me a look, like she needs me to keep focused. But Melissa looks concerned. "Are you okay?"

I slightly smile, "Yea, sorry. School is kicking my ass this year."

"No to mention she is still working her crazy hours at the store on top of that." Spencer adds.

"A good work ethic gets you places." Melissa says when she looks back at Spencer.

I smile at her, "See, Spence. All this may be killing me, but it'll get me somewhere."

"Well if it's killing you it can only make you one thing…dead."

"Oh, ha ha." I say as she shoves me playfully on the bench outside the ice cream place.

Melissa smiles at us, "It's good to see that you still have your sense of humor after what you went through. I used to ask Spencer how you were when you were still having your bad days. I was very worried."

I slightly smile, "Yea, a lot of people were. But I'm fine now."

"That's great to hear."

After we are done we head back home to meet Hanna and Aria back at our house. When we walk inside no one is downstairs, so we rush up the steps. We head straight to our room and open up the door. They are both sitting on Aria's bed in mid-conversation, turning to us when we both storm in out of breath.

"Why are you guys running?" Hanna asks.

Me and Spencer both give each other a look, as if thinking the same thing of wanting to smack her right now. "Oh I don't know." I say sarcastically, "Maybe because you guys wouldn't stop texting me and her throughout the entire time we were with Melissa. It got so nonstop and out of hand that we had to come up with some excuse on why we had to leave." I take a breath, "Could you make it any more obvious in your texts that something was going on? She could have looked over at our phones at any time and saw them."

They both side look at each other and then back to us. "Well we found something." Aria says, completely ignoring what I said.

"Clearly." I say rolling my eyes in annoyance.

"Will you drop the attitude, Jessie?" she says.

I shake my head in frustration, because I'm getting really tired of them shoving me aside when I'm trying to help. Yes, okay. Maybe I wasn't thrilled about being part of all this in the beginning, but now I'm in it whether I like it or not. I know Aria still hates the idea and that's probably why she is always picking fights with me, trying to make me back off. But at this point I'm too deep into it to just stop. Even if I do there is no guarantee that I'm safe from this new _A_ , so I might as well help….right?

"You know what?" I take a deep breath, trying my best not to flip out. "I'm gonna go open up the store."

"But…" Aria starts.

I put my hand up to stop her, because I'm super boiled and I really don't want to start any arguments. "I just had my heart pounding nonstop in my chest all that time worried that you guys were going to get yourselves into trouble, while I was freaking out about Melissa sensing I was lying. I need to keep my mind off of this _A_ stuff and seem like I'm somewhat still sane and normal." I then turn around and grab my keys as I storm out of the room.

A couple hours of back and forth chaos in the store definitely helps make me feel normal I'll tell you that. What makes me feel a little better than that is Spencer asking me to sleep over. I feel like I haven't done this enough since I moved out.

"Oh for sure."

"I'm still at your house. I'll wait for you."

I get home and pack up my stuff quickly as Aria and Spencer tell me that what the girls found in Melissa's place was a feather. The same type of feather from the Black Swan they found when she ran off.

"So what are you telling me?" I sit down on my bed next to Spencer.

"That Melissa is probably _A_." Aria says.

"That's what you thought last time and it ended up being Mona."

"We know." she says, "But this is a solid clue that we can't back off from."

"We are going to go talk to Melissa after Em gets out of work later." Spencer adds.

From there I walk with Spencer to her car and we drive off to her house. When we walk through the back door we find Melissa in the kitchen. My heart completely sinks to my stomach and by Spencer's face she must have been feeling the same way as me. Did she find out the girls were in her apartment?

"Want to help me get dinner ready?" she says as she turns around, "Oh, hey Jessie." She smiles at me.

"Hey, Melissa." I try to act normal, "What's going on?"

She shakes her head and shrugs, "Just fixing up some dinner."

"I thought you were staying in Philly for the week." Spencer says.

"I decided to come back for mom." She walks closer to us, realizing that she has a knife in her hand from whatever she was cooking and it freaks me out a bit.

"For mom?"

"It was pretty humiliating what Jason did to her at the Grille. He lives next door to us. Who knows what he'll do next."

Spencer side looks at me and smiles, she seems a little worried and like she's forcing the smile. "Can you go up to my room? I'll be right up."

"Uh..." I nod, "Yea. Sure." I walk over to the stairs and go up to her room, setting my stuff on her bed. Then out of a feeling I know she is probably going to talk to Melissa about what the girls found so I sneak downstairs and sit on the steps, making sure they don't see me just as they start yelling.

"How could you not tell me!"

"I tried to!" Melissa yells at her.

"When? When did you try?"

"The night of Ian's funeral. But then I saw his phone in your bag and I thought you were the one sending me those texts."

"Why would you fake being pregnant?" My heart sinks when I realize this is the reason they are fighting, not because of the feather.

"I lost Ian! I lost the baby. It was too much."

"So you pretended?"

I thought this was probably a good time to leave, but instead I walk down the stairs and play dumbs. "Spence, I think I left something in your…." I see the look on their faces and go into innocent mode. "What's wrong?" I walk closer to them.

She looks at Melissa who just shrugs, "Clearly she was with you for a reason today. She must know everything."

"Everything about what?" I raise an eyebrow, as if I have no idea what's going on.

Melissa takes a deep breath and says, "About me faking my pregnancy."

"Oh…"

"Go on, ask me." She says, "Ask me when I lost it."

I look at Spencer, who nods. "Okay…when did you lose it?" I look down at her on the couch.

She takes a deep breath, "The day we found Ian's body."

"The day you…" my mouth drops, I don't have to fake not knowing that. "What?"

"My whole life was in the papers." She continues. "I couldn't deal with this getting out there too." She wipes away tears, "At least that's how it started."

Spencer sits next to her and I walk closer, "You had to know it couldn't last right?" she says to her as she looks up at me, then back to her.

"You should have told someone." I get in. "You shouldn't have kept this to yourself."

"Well I'm telling you now."

"Not willingly it seems…"

"Why were you at the masquerade ball?" Spencer gets in, most likely to keep me from having my temper rise.

I look at her, I guess she did mention this to her already. "You were the Black Swan weren't you?"

Melissa looks up at me and slowly nods, "Why?" I ask.

"I'd like to know the answer to that myself." I jump a bit when I hear Veronica Hastings voice and look over to the opening of the hall from the front of the house, she looks pissed.

"Maybe I should go." I say, getting a vibe that this is a family issue and that I should go back upstairs.

"I think that is a good idea." Veronica tells me.

"She's sleeping over, mom." Spencer says, "She's going to find out anyway."

After a bit of hesitation she agrees to let me stay. I think this is the first time since I moved to the Montgomery's house that we've been around each other together like this. I kind of miss it. Until I think back to all our arguments and change my mind.

Eventually they calm Melissa down enough so she can explain things more. She starts to tell us the reason that she was at the party in the Black Swan costume was because someone was blackmailing her about spilling her secret. So this person sent her the costume and told her to go and distract Jenna, which is beyond me why that had anything to do with all this. But it's believed that Mona had to do with it to keep everyone distracted from the fact that she had taken Spencer to the lair for more than just to snoop around. Then once Mona got caught the threats stopped. This all actually makes sense, but it doesn't help me wrap my mind around this.

"You know this doesn't surprise me." I tell Spencer when we get upstairs. "Mona was crazy."

She nods, but her mind seems a bit occupied as she sits on her bed. "I have to tell you something else."

"About?"

She doesn't answer right away, then says quietly. "About why I told you to leave when Melissa mentioned Jason."

"Okay?" I sit beside her and cross my legs on the bed.

She takes a deep breath, "Dad had an affair with Mrs. DiLaurentis sometime before him and mom got married."

"What does…"

"She got pregnant and had Jason." She quickly cuts me off.

My heat sinks, "What?"

"He's mine and Melissa's brother."

"…. _what_?" I emphasize the word in complete shock. "How long have you known about this?"

"Since last school year."

"You…you what?!"

"Jessie…"

"You've known about this for months and I'm just hearing about this now?"

"It was complicated. I didn't even tell the girls till a few months later."

"But as usual I'm the last to find out." I shake my head. "How does no one in town know about this?"

"Do you really need me to answer that question?"

"Oh…that's right. Because you are the Hastings. You make things stay hidden."

Not too long later Aria calls me and drops a bomb that not only does Aunt Ella know about the dating profile she made for her, but she also knows about Uncle Byron seeing Meredith again. Yes…it is officially confirmed that he is doing this. It's like a slap in the face. What makes the night worse is that Hanna had called Aria in tears, asking her to come over. Caleb broke up with her. Talk about a shitty way to end the day.


	17. Chapter 17

**Pretty Little Liars belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **I do not take credit.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review!**

* * *

"So how are things with Maya's cousin?" I ask Em as me and her are sitting out in the courtyard before school starts. Aria had an early start with Ezra, so she was out of the house before I even got out of the bathroom. Spencer had some things to do for one of her classes, and Hanna I don't think is coming to school today. She's still been a bit distant from us all since Caleb. "What's his name again?"

"Nate." She tells me, not really completely paying attention because she is too busy texting someone.

Last week Emily ran into Maya's cousin that is going to Hollis College, but decided to live in town. What made him decide to do this I cannot tell you. Anyone willing to move into this town is insane, especially him after his cousin died here. They met at the Brew and are trying to find a way to cope with her death. I think it's a good thing he came around though, because they both knew her and it may be easier for Em to open up to someone who knew her girlfriend.

"Right…Nate." I nod to myself, "You said he sent that letter you wrote for her parents to them?"

"Mhm."

I'm not taking it personal that she isn't really listening to me. I can tell she is distracted about something, but I don't want to come out and ask. So I look to the side and see the triplets walking into the courtyard, seeming to be in an intense conversation as Luna waves her hands in excitement. Then Blake turns his head and spots me, his face getting red like it always does and he walks over to me as the other two sit at another table.

My heart starts to pound now. I still can't tell the difference between my heart pounding this fast from excitement or nerves. "Oh no."

She finally looks at me, "What?"

"Blake is coming over here."

She looks where I'm staring and smiles. "Jessie, you need to get over this. He said he isn't going to do anything. You know he's not someone to force things if someone doesn't want that. Relax." Now her face drops and it confuses me for a second, until she says. "Paige!"

I turn my head just as Blake blocks my view when Emily gets up, telling me she'll see me in class. "Hey." He says.

I half smile, trying to get a better view of where Em went. "Hey."

"Am I interrupting something?"

I look at him and smile, "No, sorry. What's up?"

He shakes his head and sits down. "Not much, just getting swamped with this whole school thing."

I look into his eyes and can't help but smile at the way he is looking at me. They look like he is completely dazed from staring into my eyes. Like they are lighting up more and more the longer he is with me. I think it's kind of cute.

"I get what you mean. Senior year is no joke." I say.

"Man you aren't kidding." He leans his elbow on the table and puts his head on his fist. "So did you hear about Jenna?"

I slant my eyebrows in confusion just as a commotion starts up from behind him, making us both turn around. As if him asking about her was her cue to walk in the halls of the school there she is, Jenna. And I don't mean blind Jenna either.

"Yea." He says as he turns back to me, "She can see again."

My stomach completely sinks to rock bottom as I watch her shaking hands and talking to people. She is acting like this is normal for a blind person to all of a sudden start seeing again. Me and the girls know that the surgery worked a long time ago, but she is fooling everyone by making it seem like it is a miracle.

Em is standing close by with Paige, turning to look at me with her mouth hanging open. " _What the hell_?" is what she mouths to me, because I know that she is just as confused as I am. I mean, one minute Jenna is begging the girls to keep her sight a secret and the next she is walking around with no sunglass and no cane as if it is the most normal thing in the world.

"No." I finally say to him when I look away, "I had no idea." I try to keep as much of a straight face as possible to make it seem like I didn't know about it.

He slightly smiles, "Don't stare, it's rude."

I laugh a bit, "Little hard when someone I've seen blind for the last year is suddenly walking around without a cane." I look over his head and see Spencer walk into the courtyard, her face in pure shock as her and Em head over to one of the walls to talk. I want to join because I know they are talking about Jenna deciding to walk around unblind all of a sudden, but I can't leave Blake hanging. He'll think I'm trying to avoid him.

"So." I look back at him and see his eyes shifting around awkwardly as he adds. "You got any plans this weekend?"

 _Uh oh_. I think to myself, but I go with it. "You mean besides working?"

He laughs, "Yes." He nods, "Besides work."

I start to think to myself for a second, looking over at the same moment to see Spencer grab Emily in what seems to be to hold her back. Probably to keep her from going after Jenna, then continue to talk. "Well that depends." I say as I look at him again.

"Depends on what?"

"On why you're asking."

He smiles and laughs a bit. "Me and my siblings are going to an bowling alley in Philly Saturday night with some friends. Thought maybe you'd wanna come."

"You mean tomorrow."

"Oh, right. Yea." His face starts to turn a little red now and I smile.

"So when you say friends, you mean that they have dates and you were hoping I'd keep you from being a third wheel."

His face turns even more red and his eyes don't connect with mine anymore. "No…"

I smile, "I'm in."

He looks at me in shock. "Really?"

I nod, "Yea…but this isn't a date."

He puts his hands up in surrender. "Wasn't thinking that. I swear."

I laugh, "Okay. Then give me details for tomorrow when you can." I look at the girls and see that Jenna is walking over to them. "Till then." I get up, "I have to go talk to the girls. I'll see you in ceramics."

He smiles and nods, "Yea. See you later."

Just as I get to where they are I see that Jenna is handing something to them. I realize it's some type of invitation. "Hey guys." I say to both of them, then turn to Jenna and play nice. "Hey, congratulations on getting your eyesight back." She has her mouth slightly open in what seems to be shock, which makes me feel uncomfortable. "Uh…you okay Jenna?"

She looks confused for a few seconds, then her eyes brighten, "Jessie?"

I slowly nod, "Yea."

She smiles, "It's nice to finally put a face to the voice. You're prettier than I pictured."

I look at the girls, who raise their eyebrows. I will admit that this kind of flatters me as I start to turn red. I didn't know her that well before I moved, or even when I did. I just saw her around here and there when she moved to town and a few times whenever I came to visit before Aria left for Iceland. So I probably look a bit different compared to all those years ago. But considering that she has been able to see for months I know that she knows what I look like already and can't believe the bullshit act she is pulling right now.

However, I turn back to her and half smile. "Oh, well thanks." I play along.

She smiles and holds out her hand, "This is for you." She hands me a black envelope, then starts to look around as if looking for something. "I haven't seen Aria or Hanna. Can I trust that you will pass them on?" she hands them to Spencer.

By the look on Spencer's face I know she is ready to explode. Sure enough she says something but she is trying not to lose her temper, "What is this?" She grabs the ones for Aria and Hanna from her.

"It's my birthday." Jenna says as she looks at us in turn. I'm honestly not even sure how to react as I look into her very light green eyes. It's kind of creepy looking.

"You recovered just in time." Emily says sarcastically.

Jenna nods, "The doctors say it was a positive outcome."

"No." Spencer gets in, "What the hell is this, Jenna." She points a bit, indicating her eyes. "I thought you needed protection. We had a deal to keep your secret until you felt safe."

She slightly smiles, "Well this is the new deal." I don't like the attitude she is having with them all of a sudden. "I feel a lot safer when I'm in charge of what happens to me." She turns to look at me, "I'm assuming since you look very pissed off that you already knew about all this."

I side look at the girls and they seem to not even know what to say. So I start with, "Actually no." I decide to lie, "Just listening to what you guys said is obvious enough to get that they found out and tried to help you. But clearly you don't seem to care anymore."

She gives me a slight smile, "Miss smarty pants over here." Her tone sounds a bit mean as she says it and looks at them for a second, "Watch out Spence, she may be as smart as you." Then she turns to me again, "Bu you should totally watch out on who your friends are. They might get you killed."

We all look at her in disbelief and my mouth completely drops in shock. "That was totally uncalled for Jenna." I say.

She laughs, "Oh come on, Jessie." Her voice goes back to being nice, "They pulled you into a mess that you didn't ask for last year by getting you kidnapped. You're telling me you'd rather stay friends with them knowing they got you into that?"

I take a deep breath, trying not to lose my cool with her. "They had no say over what Mona decided to do to me. And for your information, I got myself into that mess. I wanted to help. So it's my fault that I got grabbed, not theirs. Don't you dare blame them."

She half laughs and then smiles again, "Hope to see you all there." Then she walks away.

We watch her walk off inside the school and I look back at them. "Can I hit her?"

They half smile, "No." they both say, but there is amusement to their tone.

I laugh a little and look down at the black envelope. I open it up and start to read through the info. I'm very interested to see how this party is going to work out. That is until I realize that it says it's for the 17th of October, _this_ Saturday night to be exact.

"Well it looks like I'm not going." I say when I turn to them.

"Why?" they both ask as they open theirs.

"Because I have plans to go bowling with the triplets and their friends."

"Oh thank God." Emily says, her eyes glued to the invitation. Her being excited confuses me. "I'm busy too." Andddd that explains the excitement.

Spencer looks at us as I laugh at her outburst, "Well aren't you guys lucky."

"Hey. You can say no you know."

She nods, "I could, but I may go just 'cause I want to find out what Jenna is up to."

The bell rings for first period and we all walk off to the door. First period history is not going to be fun, I'll tell you that. History bores the hell out of me.

The following night Spencer decided not to go to the party, but she is being her usual self and spying on Garrett at the hospital. His mom got sick and ended up in a coma, so they let him out of jail for the night to see her. No one is happy about the fact that he is being released for a few hours to see his mom of course. Being accused of killing two teenage girls and then getting the sympathy card isn't sitting well with anyone.

Emily on the other hand ended up being forced to go to the party because she has a job at the Brew and her boss told her she has to work tonight. She wasn't thrilled about this, but what choice does she have. Then Aria told me that Ezra got invited to the party too, which I find super weird. They agreed that they'd go just to make some type of appearance. I know for a fact it's more to spy and see if there's anything to find. I don't even bother to argue about it.

Now when it comes to mine and Blake's NOT a date hangout, his siblings and him fought over who would get the car and who had to find a ride. Guess who lost that argument? Blake calls me at the last minute asking if I could drive us two to Philly because Luna and Kyle are riding together with their "friends".

"Sorry about this." He says as he hops into the car when I pick him up. "We thought were going to be able to use my mom's van so that we could all go together, but turns out she needed it. So we had to use our crap car."

"No worries." I put the car in drive, "They are the ones on dates anyway. We'd just be in the way."

He looks at me as I start to pull out of their driveway and follow behind the other's car. "You sure you're okay coming?"

I look at him and smile, "I'm sure. If I wasn't I wouldn't have agreed." I turn back to the road, but I can tell that he is still looking at me.

I have this urge to look at him…but for one, I'm driving and two, I am 100% sure that he will be looking at me in that same amazed look he always gives me when we are together. I know he has a crush on me and can't help it, which makes me melt every time. I've grown rather fond of the look he gives me in the matter of the couple months from when he told me he liked me, but I can't help but think of Andrew from all the times he looked at me the same way. This is all so confusing, and yet it shouldn't be because he already told me he doesn't want to get back together. He can barely even look at me anymore in class.

"You look nervous." He tells me when I park my car in the lot at the alley sometime later.

I turn to him, half smiling. "Why would I be nervous?"

He smiles, "Because you suck at meeting new people."

I laugh and nod, grateful that he isn't picking up that I'm actually nervous to be around him. "You caught me."

I must say, tonight isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I figured I'd be nervous the entire time and seeming like I don't want to be here. Luckily I'm able to go back to normal as soon as Luna comes into the picture. She has her moments where she'll cuddled up to her date, and the same with Kyle with his, but I manage to suck up my nerves and have a good time as Luna kicks all of our asses. She's the only one who manages to get over one hundred by thirty points for both games. The rest of us either just miss that point or get over by fifteen.

After bowling they all want to head over to the diner next to the alley. I'm a bit hungry but I feel a little more out of place going to dinner while Luna and Kyle are officially on dates. Thank goodness Blake seems to feel the same as he asks if I just want to head home instead, maybe grabbing some ice cream at Rita's in the town next to Rosewood.

"Sounds better than feeling awkward during their dinner date." I whisper to him as we we're getting closer to the diner.

He smiles, "Exactly." Then he calls out his siblings names and lets them know we are going to head out.

"Already?" Luna asks, seeming a little upset.

I half smile, "Yea. Sorry. I'm a little tired from opening up the store earlier since I knew I was going to hang out tonight."

She smiles a bit, "You work too much."

I half laugh, "How else will I make money?"

Kyle leans in and hugs me, "Let us know when you get home okay?"

I nod, "Of course."

Rita's is pretty empty, which is great since we don't have to wait in a long line. Me and Blake argue for a few seconds about him paying for my ice cream since I wouldn't let him pay for bowling. In the end he wins when he practically attacks the girl at the window with his money before I can even get mine out. Then we walk over to a bench and sit down, managing to talk about nonsense the whole time. These are the conversations I like, when you can talk to someone without thinking.

At one point we are talking and I realize he's staring at me the way he always does again, which makes me blush. "What?"

He smiles, "Nothing." He shrugs, "You're just too pretty to take my eyes off of."

I blush even more, "Stop."

He smiles as he wipes off something from my bottom lip with his thumb, then his eyes kind of bug out. "Sorry. You had vanilla ice cream on your lip."

Out of an impulse I lick my lips, seeing if anything else is there. I'm kind of stunned to say anything as he continues to stare at me. His green eyes are twinkling from the lamp above us, my eyes shifting around from feeling nervous as my heart pounds against my chest. When I look back to him he's not taking his eyes off mine and my heart races more.

My head is spinning as I continue to look at him, knowing what he's probably thinking, but won't do because I told him not to. But that doesn't keep my heat from racing even more. I watch him for another few seconds and the only thing I can think of to do is put my hand up and set it on his face, feeling his beard growing in as I rub it with my thumb. He smiles at me and I don't even think about it as I watch his lips for a second and then lean in, pressing my lips to his and my stomach flips.

This time I don't pull back as we kiss, my hand traveling to his hair and running my fingers through it. He places his hand on the back of my neck and brings me closer to him, placing his other hand on my leg. Then he pulls away from me a few seconds later and when I open my eyes I see his smile brighter than ever before, his hand still resting on my leg.

"That…" he shakes his head, still smiling. "That was…"

"Amazing." I finish for him.

He smiles even more and nods, "Yes. Yes it was."


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey everyone, here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **I do not take credit for PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Monday I can't stop thinking about Blake. Almost all day I'm so distracted that everyone can tell my mind is not so aware of things. The girls try to get me to tell them what is on my mind, but I keep finding ways to avoid it. I haven't told anyone about what happened with Blake just yet. We both agreed to give it a bit to be sure that both of us are on the same pace from what happened. Obviously he is okay with it, me on the other hand I have to make sure I didn't do it just because I felt lonely. The more I think of it though, the more I can't stop and feel that it was not a mistake. However, I don't want to rush into things, so I hope he'll be okay with taking it slow before getting into anything official.

Then the following day the girls try again when I seem distracted once again. The night before I had met up with Blake and it was another nice time together. We are still keeping things to ourselves so that no one makes a big deal about it until we feel like this is actually gonna go somewhere. We went out of town to hang out and played some pool. Then he gave me a goodbye kiss in his car at the end of my block before driving to my house that once again stuck in my head.

When the girls become up my ass about why I see out of it today I tell them that my distraction has to do with senior year stressing me out. However, saying that ends with them arguing with me that what is really stressing me out is working on top of school. They want me to slow down because it's making my stress worse.

"Work isn't stressing me out." I say to them while hanging out in the courtyard after school.

The triplets are with us as we sit at one of the tables. Blake is sitting right next to me and can't help but to slip his fingers between mine from under the table. I try not to smile when he does, because it'll probably give something away. But I so want nothing more but to let them know what's going on as I rub my thumb back and forth on his hand.

"Jessie." Hanna says, eyeing me. "You look more exhausted this year than you did last year. And you haven't even started sports yet."

"What's your point?"

"That you are clearly working yourself more than you ever have before." Spencer gets in.

If the triplets weren't around I would have argued that it's more than just work and school that has me like this. Like the fact that I'm helping them out with _A_ stuff, or that they go around doing things _A_ related behind my back and it has me paranoid when I find out they can get themselves into trouble. You can't tell me that all their stuff isn't enough to stress someone out, but they probably don't notice that.

Instead I smile, "Just relax okay. I'm fine. I need to keep the store open to make money. I want to start fixing up the apart above it soon."

"Okay." Spencer says, "But you don't need to keep it open every day till late. You went from weekdays till seven and weekends till ten to making it weekdays till nine and weekends depending if you notice how late it is. Those hours on top of being in school for six hours, and then eventually adding sports to the mix is not healthy, Jessie."

"I can handle it."

They all look at each other and shake their heads, "You're so stubborn." Aria says.

I slowly nod, "Yep."

After all the arguing back and forth about work I finally tell them that they don't have to worry about me working till late for the next two or three days at least. Try outs for basketball is today, tomorrow and most likely Thursday too, so I'll be keeping the next few days free of work.

I get home from tryouts completely exhausted. The brutalness of it was more intense for varsity than it has ever been before. If this keeps up then I may be pushing it a bit by working on top of basketball this year. Maybe I'm wrong about not giving myself more breaks, especially when I'm playing sports at the same time.

I barely make it to my bed when I get home. I'm just crawling onto it and landing on my stomach when full out tired kicks in and I don't even have the strength to get my legs fully on the bed before I pass out. Then a couple hours later I hear the loud annoying sound of my phone ringing and I turn my head over towards my nightstand. It's pitch black in the room but I can just make out the light of my phone. I'm still lying on my stomach as I stretch out to it, too tired to move more and slide it over to me with the tips of my fingers.

I look at the screen, one eye closed from the light blinding me and see it's Hanna, "Hello?"

"Is Aria home?"

"I have no idea, I was sleeping."

"Oh. Sorry, Jessie. Didn't mean to wake you up." It gets quiet on her end.

"What's going on?" I yawn and roll onto my back, pinching the top part of my nose as I wait for her to break the bad news, because I know better by now.

"Well…" She says, "She kind of went to see Mona and I wasn't sure if she was still there."

I sit up so fast that I get dizzy, most likely from a head rush that I can't get the full effect of since it's dark in here. "She did what!" I lean over and turn on my lamp, black dots swarming my vision.

"Calm down, just hear me out." She tells me that they had found a Ouija board in her house earlier today and it had something to do with Mona. This made Aria stupid enough to go and visit her at Radley.

"Why did you let her go by herself?" I'm standing now and pacing my room from Aria's bed to mine in panic.

"Because we weren't sure if Mona got her privileges back and if she did I'm most likely not allowed to see her and they'd probably turn me away."

"You guys are insane."

"Been told, thank you."

I take a deep breath, "I'm going to go get her."

"Not by yourself you aren't."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because you aren't over what Mona did to you. Can you actually go into that place and see her without freaking out?"

"I…"

"Exactly, so I'm going with you. I have a plan anyway."

"I so did not want to hear those words come out of your mouth."

When we get to Radley, Aria is just walking out of the building. She has her phone in her hands, as if reading something. Then me and Hanna bolt out of her car and walk over to her. She doesn't notice us until we are right in front of her.

"Having fun visiting a psychopath?" I say when her eyes bug out from seeing me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Getting you. Duh."

"What did she say?" Hanna asks so a fight doesn't start between us.

"Hardly anything. Her visits are supervised now, but she wanted me to tell you that she's sorry." She has a thinking face on, "Is it possible she's not behind any of this?"

"Of course not if she's stuck in there." I say point to the building as they look at me. "Not unless she has someone else doing her dirty work or sneaking out, I think it's safe to say it's not her."

"Either way she knows who is." Hanna says, then attempts to go inside.

"Hey." Aria says as she grabs her, "Visiting hours are over."

She looks at her and shrugs, "So, the nurses change shift in twenty minutes." We both give her a look, "What? I've been here enough times to know."

"That's not what the look is for." Aria says, "You're sneaking in." she side looks at me, "Hanna…I know that you're freaked out about everything, but you can just come back tomorrow."

"And do what? Have a nice chat about _A_ in the day room?"

Aria looks at the building and then sighs as she looks back at her, "Okay, then I'm going with you."

"What? Are you nuts." I say.

Hanna nods, "I agree with Jessie."

I look at her, "That was meant for you too."

"Guys. Friends don't let friends sneak into insane asylums alone." Aria tells us.

"Or at all." I add.

She looks at me, "Well you're not going."

"You think I'm going to let you two go inside by yourself?"

"With Mona still being able to set you off?" she nods, "Yea, you sure as hell are."

"Aria, come on."

"If you can look me in the eyes and tell me you aren't afraid of her anymore then I'll back off."

I do look at her in her concerned and determined hazel eyes, but then look at the building. The thought of being around Mona again freaks me out. "No." I look back at her and shake my head. "Guess not."

She puts her hand on my arm, "Take my keys and wait for me in the car, okay?" she hands them to me.

I take them and nod, "Fine." Then I watch them both walk up to the building and I start to walk to her car, or at least that's what I'm making them believe. Because as soon as I look back and see they disappeared I turn right back around and run to the building, taking the steps two at a time and open the door.

When I walk in I see them walking along the wall, trying to avoid anyone who may see them. I follow their same path as they get around the corner of one of the hallways and chase after them. When I poke my head around the wall I see them heading through the gated door that separates the crazy people from the front desk and run as fast as I can to get to it so I don't get locked out. Then I watch Hanna walk into a room and Aria stands outside like she's guarding it.

Something from behind me makes noise and I jump. I look to the side and tiptoe into the bathroom that is right next to me. Footsteps come and pass, then I slowly walk out again after a few minutes to make sure they don't come back. This time Aria is gone when I look at where the door she was standing at. I go to take a step forward and see that the door flies open and someone runs out of it.

Squinting through the barely lit hallway I try to make out who it is. All I can see is someone in a white gown with long black hair and a bit short. I realize quickly that it's most likely Mona and my heart sinks. Then it starts to race and Mona yelling my name every time I did something to piss her off screams in my head. I have to put my hand on the wall to keep myself from falling as I get short of breath. It goes away kind of quick from what is probably adrenaline going through me since I don't want to lose her in this place, so I take off after her.

I follow her into a deserted area of the hospital and watch her pick the lock to the children's ward. She walks through the door and I continue to follow, until she walks into some creepy looking room that looks like an old nursery. Her voice comes from inside and my brain swarms with bad memories that I try quickly to get rid of as my breathing rapids.

"I won't whine…" I whisper to myself as I try to calm down. Then a hand goes on my shoulder. This makes me jump a good ten feet in the air from getting the shit scared out of me. My breathing speeds up more and my heart races ten times faster.

"What the hell, Jessie." Aria whispers, her face in pure pissed off mode when I turn around.

"I wanted…to help." I say in a low voice, trying to catch my breath as my vision goes in and out for a second.

"She is going to set you off." She says.

"I think it's too late." Hanna tells her as she sets her hand on my back to calm me down.

Aria shakes her head, "You need to stop. _Now_ , Jessie. Because once you go into full panic mode it's going to take a long time to get you back to normal. We don't have the time in a place like this too walk you through a panic attack."

"But…"

"She's right." Hanna says, "We need answers and we need them now. You stay out here."

"Oh come on." I take deep breath, finally calming down a bit.

"We are not having this argument." Aria says, "Stay right here."

I don't bother to say anything and just nod, a bit ticked off. But I can hear them talking from where I am and can just make out Mona's voice. It's very light sounding and she sounds crazier than I've ever heard before. "Miss Aria you're a killer, not Ezra's wife."

 _What the hell_. Is all I can think as she repeats the same sentence a second time.

"Cut it out Mona." Hanna's voice comes.

"Where were we?" Mona says, getting quiet for a second. "Maya's away sleeping sweet. Until Garrett's all rosy, count on me."

I'm trying all I can not to burst in there, because she is making no sense. But the mix of me being terrified to see her and hearing someone call Mona's name from outside where I am stops me, making my heart sink. I'm so about to get caught so I look around and find what looks like an old rocking chair with cardboard boxes nearby and rush over to hide behind them. I just make it when footsteps come and pass me, calling Mona's name again and a few seconds later they are dragging her out.

I wait about ten seconds before getting up from where I am and walk over to the doorway the girls are. "What in the hell was she rambling about?" They just shake their heads and shrug.

When we get home me and Aria get into a full out argument about me not listening to her. Luckily her brother and dad aren't home, but Hanna is sitting on Aria's bed watching us. She's sleeping over so I feel weird having her see one of our legit arguments while at home that goes on for fifteen minutes. I'm yelling at her in nothing but Spanish because of how angry I am.

"Por lo que sabes que ella podria haber muerto!"

"Oh Jessie stop being dramatic." She tells me, "What was she going to kill us with? A doll she happened to find?"

"Esto no es una broma, Aria!"

"I know this isn't a joke. But stop making such a big deal."

Then her phone rings and it happens to be Aunt Ella. I just shake my head in anger and storm to the bathroom. When I get out she is on her bed with Hanna, seeming to be ready to go to sleep.

"Mom didn't just have one date today, she had two."

"What?" I say.

"Long story that I'll tell you tomorrow. I'm going to sleep." Then she turns off her lamp and I hop into bed, our argument officially being done with.

Some hours later though I hear voices. They are whispered voices, but it's enough to wake me up and annoy me. I'm half asleep as I hear these people talking and I so want to yell at them.

"A code?" I hear Spencer's voice through my sleepiness.

"It's some stupid thing she made up back when we were friends." Hanna says.

I slowly open my eyes and notice that I'm facing the wall, light coming from behind me. So I turn my head and see the four girls sitting on Aria's bed. Spencer and Emily are at the bottom of her bed, leaning up against the foot board, while Hanna and Aria are against the headrest. Aria looks half asleep as she has her knees up to her chest, her arms holding her legs and her chin resting on her knee.

"Why wouldn't she just come out and say it?" Emily asks.

I roll all the way onto my other side to look at them, but they don't seem to notice as I reach out to grab my glasses from my nightstand and check my phone. It's after twelve in the morning. "What the hell is going on?" They all look over at me, seeming scared for a second. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Sorry, Jessie." Hanna says, giving me a sad look. "It was important."

I sit up and then turn to sit on the end of my bed. "This late?" I rub my eyes a bit.

"It just came to mind."

I take a deep breath and get up, "Go on." I walk over to the door, "Continue your clearly meant to be a secret from me talk as I go to the bathroom." I say a little mad, yet too tired to argue.

"We aren't keeping secrets from you." Emily gets in.

I turn to them, "Oh no?" I look at all four of them, "Then why didn't you wake me up for this meeting?" I ask calmly. They all look at each other, as if stumped on what to say and I just nod. "Exactly, 'cause you weren't planning on telling me till either the last minute or at all. What's the point of me being part of helping you if I'm not going to be part of anything?"

"We are trying to protect you." Aria says, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion.

"Trying to protect me? Then what was the point in offering me to help, Spence?"

She gives me a sad look, not saying anything. So I just walk out the door. Later on though when I come back in is when they tell me that whatever I overheard when they were talking to Mona at Radley was a code that sent them to a website about Maya.

"A website?" I ask confused.

They all nod and Spencer hands me Aria's laptop. I take it from her and see that it needs a password and they don't know what it can be. I guess that's another mystery to figure out.

On Monday I run into someone that I was not expecting to see. He has been out in California visiting his mom and I thought he wasn't going to come back after what happened with him and Hanna. Yep, you guessed right. Caleb is back in Rosewood. And when I say ran into him, I mean literally ran into him. I wasn't paying attention as I have my attention to getting something out of my backpack and happened to go head first into him.

"Oh, crap I'm so sorry!" I look up and see him standing there, my mouth dropping. "Caleb."

The same tall, skinny kid with long shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes is staring down at me. He has a bit of a smile on his face. "Hey, Jessie."

"You're back."

He slowly nods and laughs a bit. "Yep. Surprise."

I laugh, "I didn't expect you to come back to this shitty town."

He nods a bit, "Thought about it. But in the end I've grown attached."

"I guess it has it perks."

He laughs, "It does." He looks down the hall, "Can I walk you to class?"

I smile, "Yea. Sure."

On Friday Aria storms into our room in the middle of me doing homework at nine at night. She's kind of dazed out but she starts to pace back and forth after throwing her bag onto her bed. She doesn't even look at me, like she doesn't realize I'm here for a few seconds.

"Aria?" I say cautiously.

She doesn't stop pacing, her arms crossed as she is staring down at the floor. It's a little alarming to see her like this so I get up and grab her arm, stopping her from continuing. She shifts her eyes to me, they look a little dead, like she isn't seeing me. Then she blinks and her eyes light up, like she actually sees me now.

"You okay?"

She hesitates for a second, "We think Paige is _A_."

My heart sinks, my mouth opening in complete shock for a second. Did she really say what I think she just said? "You…you think what?"

She drags me over to her bed and sits me down next to her. "Spencer and Hanna found the other earring that I thought was Meredith's in her bag when they were helping CeCe with some errands."

"CeCe Drake?" I ask.

Before I continue, let me tell you who CeCe Drake is real quick. A couple weeks or so ago the girls were at the Brew and ran into a girl named CeCe. They had found out that she moved back to Rosewood after being away for awhile. She apparently knew Ali and they hung out a lot the summer she disappeared, also happening to date Jason that year. The girls have hung out with CeCe a few times since then so she happened to spot Paige at school the other day while talking to Spencer and dropped the bomb on Spencer about Ali and Paige being enemies. So as usual, Spencer gets her usual suspicious self and got the others involved.

"How is Em taking this news?"

She shakes her head, "She doesn't believe us. She thinks we are making it up and shouldn't believe what CeCe says."

"Well I mean, you don't really know CeCe that well. She could be lying."

"Why would she lie?"

"I…" I shake my head and shrug. "I don't know."

"We need her to believe us. What if Paige hurts her."

"Look." I put my hands on her shoulders and have her look me in the eyes. "You need to relax okay? For all you know _A_ planted that earring to make it seem like Paige is involved. How many times did Mona do that last year and you guys got in trouble every time you reacted on the impulse to do something about it? I mean…" I take a breath and look away for a second, my mind scrambling to make sense of this. "It's seeming more likely that Garrett had nothing to do with Maya being murdered." I look back to her, "And more that this _A_ framed him for it. Just like this person did with you guys with the grave. Do you really want to jump on this boat because Spencer is having one of her moments of thinking everyone is _A_?"

She watches me for a few seconds, seeming stunned and out of words to say anything. But eventually she nods. "You're right, Jessie. We shouldn't jump into it, but what if we don't and Em gets hurt because of it?"

I look into her eyes, they look scared. "Then you do what you have to. But I need to be part of it. I'm not sitting back and letting you guys do all the work because you want to protect me. If she is _A_ I'm not going to let her hurt you anymore."

She slightly smiles, but it seems forced. I know there's more to it. That's when she blurts out. "Ezra has a son."

I watch her in confusion, because she said it so fast that at first I don't realize what she said. Then my mind seems to catch up to her words. "What?"

She shakes her head. "He doesn't know about him though. He got a girl pregnant in high school and his mom paid her off to get an abortion and never see Ezra again."

"Hold up." I raise my hands to stop her because she is talking too fast for me. "If he doesn't know about this then how do you?"

She goes on to tell me that she found out about his ex because his younger brother Wesley had been around last week and accidently mentioned it to her when he did Ezra a favor to pick her up from a party. Somehow he let it slip assuming she knew and her impulsive instinct was to ask Ezra. They talked and eventually when he found where this girl lives Aria took it upon herself to go see her without Ezra knowing and she found out. Now Aria is hiding the secret of his son from him because she talked to his brother when she saw him today and he told her not to mention it to him on his birthday, which happens to be today. Talk about a mouthful and a headache creeping up as I listen to this.

"Your life is way too complicated for me."

She half smiles, "Probably liked it better in Jersey."

"Jersey had its moments, but none like this that's for sure. Definitely wouldn't change being here for that boringness though."

She laughs, "You're crazy."

"Clearly not as crazy as Mona though, thank God."

She smiles, "So I think I'm gonna go to bed."

I nod, "I think that's a good idea. You need to figure all this out, because you do need to tell him." She starts walking to the door to head to the bathroom. "Before it's too late." I add.


	19. Chapter 19

**I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Hope you enjoy. Please leave a review.**

* * *

Saturday the next morning I wake up to my phone buzzing on my nightstand. Opening my eyes the room comes into a blurry mess, as it always does when I don't have my glasses on. So I lean over and grab my glasses, everything becoming clear when I put them on. I look towards Aria's bed when I go to grab my phone and notice she is not in the bed. It doesn't surprise me though because I remember that she did one of her usual middle of the night sneak outs when the girls need her for something important. So she most likely either didn't come back or got up super early for the same reason. I've learned to get used to it and not argue that she shouldn't be doing that, or fussing about not being involved. Especially late at night, I prefer my sleep over playing detective any day.

My phone starts to buzz again and I look at it in my hand. It's Emily calling me. I had missed her other four texts, so I guess this is her last resort.

"Hello?" I say tired.

"Did I wake you up?"

"No. I always sound like this when someone calls me at eight thirty in the morning." I say sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Jessie."

"It's okay. What's going on?"

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure?" I roll onto my back and rub my eyes.

"Would you mind coming to the cabin that me, Nate and his family are going to this afternoon?"

I raise my eyebrow in confusion. "Umm…"

"My mom is having a fit that I'm going with people I really don't know. I assured her that they are Maya's family members, but she'd feel better if someone she knows would go with us."

"And you want me to go?"

"Please?"

"Why not ask one of the girls?"

She gets quiet for a few seconds, "Me and the girls aren't exactly seeing eye to eye right now. But I barely see you as it is, so I want you to come."

"Oh…right."

"I'm going to guess they told you."

"Aria mentioned something about it last night, yea."

"What do you think?" she sounds a little hurt as she asks me that.

"I think they shouldn't jump on this theory too fast because it's happened before." I stop for a second, "Which is what I told her when she let me know what was going on."

She doesn't answer right away, which scares me because I thought she hung up for getting mad that I didn't defend Paige. Until she says, "Thank you. That's all I ask."

"Yea…no problem."

"So will you come with me? It's just till tomorrow."

I stretch a bit from being exhausted, but I nod. Even though I know she can't see me. "Sure. Sounds like fun."

"You're wonderful." I can hear in her voice that she is ecstatic.

"It's not a problem. I'd be happy to spend the time with you guys. Guess it's time to finally meet Nate anyway."

"You've been busy."

"Yea, but I should have met him a long time ago. He's been here for like a month."

"It's okay. We'll come get you around twelve."

"Sounds good. I'll sleep in the car."

She laughs, "Or do you want to pack real quick and I'll come get you in a few? You can hang here with me and get some rest while I finish packing."

"I'd love to but I actually have practice in a couple hours. Mr. Brooks may be the new varsity coach but he won't let me slide for bailing on basketball."

"Oh that's right. Are you sure you can come then?"

"Positive. I'll let you know when practice is over and you guys can come get me here."

"Okay."

"See you soon."

"Bye."

I hang up, lazily get out of bed and head to the bathroom. Then I come back to my room to pack a bag for today and tomorrow at the cabin and then make myself breakfast before getting ready for practice. I call Aria before I head out to let her know that whatever plan her, Spencer and Hanna decide to cook up to nail Paige as _A_ will have to count me out. I explain to her the conversation I had with Emily about inviting me to the cabin they are going to after I'm done with practice. She seems super relieved by this because she feels me keeping an eye on her will be a good thing while they aren't there.

"Don't do anything stupid though, okay?" I tell her.

"Do I ever?"

"Considering that last night you told me you went to see Ezra's ex-girlfriend that he got pregnant because you wanted to see if you had anything to worry about? I'd say yes."

She doesn't answer right away. I probably over stepped but she just says. "You're right. That was stupid."

"Just be careful on whatever you guys decide to do is all I ask."

"Of course."

"And keep me posted okay?"

"Sure thing."

"See you tomorrow."

The cabin is really nice when we finally get here. The place is in the middle of the woods with other cabins very spread out away from us, but it is still a nice little area with a lake and lighthouse some distance away on both sides of our cabin. Nate was a little surprised that I was coming, but once Em explained everything he had no problems with it. His parents are supposed to be meeting us here later today, but till then we have the place to ourselves and it is definitely a cool thing.

Nate is a very sweet guy, a real gentleman. He takes our bags for us as we get things out of the trunk, refusing to let us help with anything. He just asks us to go inside and pick out the room we want to share. When we get back into the living room all of our things are inside, so we just grab our stuff and bring it to the room.

When we come back out again we all sit around the coffee table and play a board game. The Game of Life to be more specific. "I'm a beast at this game." I tell them.

They both smile at me, "Cocky are we." Nate says.

I look at him from the floor across the table while they are on the sofa, his brown eyes matching his brown skin as he watches me with his bright smile. It makes me not able to help but smile too. It's kind of contagious. "Nope. Just confident." I laugh.

"More like super competitive." Emily says.

"Okay. That too."

She smiles at me, "Well prepare to lose. Because I think I got you beat."

"Or..." Nate starts. "Maybe I got both of you beat."

"Now who's being cocky?" I raise an eyebrow jokingly at him.

He laughs, "I got this. Don't worry."

"Someone has a trick up their sleeve it seems."

He slightly smiles, eyeing me for a second and then nods. "You have no idea."

I look at Em, who can't help but laugh. "Okay, lets play." She says.

Two hours of nonstop playing The Game of Life as me and Nate are determined to out win the other. Emily falls asleep on us without either of us realizing it because after me and her lost the first game she let us play on our own so she could watch our crazy obsession to beat the other. Every other game we'd switch and the other would win. This is the tie breaker as we are getting hungry and ready to start preparing dinner for when his parents come around.

He leans over and covers her with a blanket from the sofa and then gets up. "Okay, good game. I'll get you next time." He smiles, "I'm going to go get some firewood. Mind if you start dinner? The stuff is in that bag." He points to one in the kitchen.

I look at him and smile, "Sure. Don't get lost though, reception seems to suck up here."

He nods, "I know. I think I'm going to try and call my dad to make sure that they are okay."

"Good idea. I may have to call my aunt and uncle in a few myself. I forgot to let them know I got here."

"Okay. When I get back I'll let you know where the best spot to call is."

"Team work."

He smiles, "For sure."

He walks out of the cabin and I head to the kitchen. I grab some potatoes and salmon from the bag. I sit on a chair as I pull over the garbage and start to peel them up. I feel like I haven't had non vegetarian food that isn't from the Grille, Brew or Chinese in forever. I forget how much work living with one can be.

I get the food cooking in no time after the peeling and smashing up the potatoes gets all done, then sit over on the sofa with Em for a few minutes. Finally the door opens and Nate walks in with some firewood, so I get up and grab some from him to help.

"Thanks."

I smile, "You're welcome."

He smiles back, "The best spot for a phone call is closer to the lake if you want to get yours in while I get a fire started, and I'll check on the food. The lake is straight ahead to your right, can't miss it."

I nod, "How about I finish up cooking while you get the fire started. Then I'll make that call."

He half smiles, "Sure."

Once I'm done a half hour later I head over to the door. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Hurry back before dark. Don't want you to get lost. My parents should be here soon."

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes tops." Then I walk out the door and head to the lake where he says it is. The lake is about a minute walk, the cabin still being slightly visible through the trees from here. I definitely need to be back before dark starts to completely kick in.

I get out my phone and text Uncle Byron and Aunt Ella so that I can call Aria instead. "I'm here."

"Good. Started to get a little worried."

"Sorry. The service blows here. Had to figure out where the right spot to get it is. How's everything over there?"

"It's good." She hesitates.

"What?"

"We kind of got a plan down."

"Okay?"

"We are going to get Paige in a lie. Gonna have her meet us at the cemetery and catch her in an _A_ act. Em will have no choice but to believe us."

I slowly nod, "You guys are really convinced she's the real deal."

"She has to be."

"Why?" I ask. "Why does Emily's girlfriend have to be _A_? She is finally happy again after Maya."

"I know, Jessie."

"I know you want this to be over, but you have to be sure this is her. You can't put Em through this again."

"We know that. That's why we are trying to catch her in the act."

"Okay. Well everything is fine over here. Em is sleeping and me and Nate are getting dinner ready. I think she really needed this."

"I do too, I'm glad she asked you to go with her."

"Same. I'll make sure she's keeping her mind off of Garrett's trial starting up today."

"Good, she needs you right now. Just keep her busy."

"I'm on it."

"Have fun."

"I plan on it."

She laughs, "I'll text you when our plan comes into play."

"Great. I can't guarantee that I'll get it but I'll try to call you later."

"Sounds good. Talk later."

"Later." I hang up and put my phone in my pocket. I stare at the water of the lake for awhile. I'm not sure exactly how long, butI love the way the sun is reflecting off it as the sun is starting to go down. I take in a deep breath of the cool air and turn back to the cabin.

As I walk in I see Nate at the kitchen counter, grabbing some plastic cups from another bag. He looks at me and smiles, "Everything okay?"

I smile and nod, "Yea, all good. The sun in the water is amazing to watch."

"Do you want to watch the sunset?"

"Really?"

"Yea, why not? Don't see it often in this type of atmosphere."

I nod, "That's true."

He smiles, then his eyes seem to sadden. "Hey, Jessie." He says and I raise my eyebrow at him, "How well did you know Maya?"

My stomach kind of hurts a bit when he says that, I wasn't expecting it. "Oh….not well actually. I didn't really hang with her while at school and once she got sent to that rehab that was really it."

"Not even when she came back?"

"Well she wasn't living in town, so no."

He nods, "I heard some guy was stalking her before she died. Do you think it was Garrett?"

I feel really weird having this talk with him, but I humor him. "Considering they think he killed her, it must be." I look at the sofa to stop how awkward this convo became, "Think we should wake Em up to see the sunset?"

He shakes his head, "Nah. Let her sleep. She's been having a rough week."

"Yea you're right. She needs a long nap."

He laughs and walks over from the kitchen. "Yes she does." He gets to me. "Shall we?" he positions his hands in a _Ladies First_ type of gesture.

I smile, "Yes, lets go." I turn around and start to walk towards the door.

It gets quiet for a few seconds, "You know who else needs a long nap?" He asks from behind me just as we walk out the front door of the cabin, the sun is going down quick.

I walk to the right to go where the lake is, "Who?" Before I can even turn my head to look at him I see a cloth come into my view and goes over my mouth and nose as I get shoved into a tree in front of me. An arm loops through both of mine from behind and a body pushes me more into the tree so I can't move.

"You." I hear Nate's voice in my ear, but it doesn't sound like the sweet guy I was just talking to. He sounds demented, the way Mona did that night and it freaks me out more.

"Mmm!" I yell in fear and a weird smell comes to my nose from the cloth.

My head is resting up on the tree, his hand pressed forcefully against the cloth to my mouth as he says. "I'm the one who killed Maya. I'm the supposed stalker that she dumped for Emily. Emily will not see what is coming next."

I can just make out the cabin beside us as my eyes start to daze out and all I want is for Em to look out here. "Mmmm!" I yell again, trying to get him off me but he pushes me harder against the tree.

"Goodnight, Jessie." His voice is far away and everything goes dark.


	20. Chapter 20

**Happy PLL Day! How did everyone enjoy the new episode?**

 **I do not take credit for Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Don't be afraid to leave a review!**

* * *

"Don't look at me like that!"

I hear someone scream, but it sounds far away. My head hurts a little as I start to feel the heaviness of my eyes lighten up more and I slowly open them. Light blinds me a bit as I hear the same voice yell again.

"I said don't look at me like that!"

I get my sight fully back and see a ceiling. I bring my gaze away from it and notice I'm in the bedroom that I'm sharing with Em at the cabin, but I don't remember coming in here. The last thing I remember is Nate asking if I wanted to go check out the sunset, everything else after that is dazed.

I sit up from the bed and hear mumbled talking from the hallway, so I get up. My footing is not very good as I fall to the floor, catching myself with my hands and try to get back up. It's a little wobbly trying to get to the door, but when I do I realize quickly that it's stuck when the knob turns but can't open it.

"Em." I say a bit hoarse. "Em, the door won't open." I twist the knob again and pull hard. "Emily!" I yell, now panicking as I bang on the door. "Emily the door is stuck!"

"Jessie!" she yells.

"Quiet!" I hear Nate's voice yell at her in anger.

I bang on the door again, "Let me out!"

"I'm going do to you what you did to me." I just barely hear him say.

I'm so panicked now that I start to kick the door as hard as I can, because I need to get out of here. The door sadly doesn't open the way I'm kicking but I don't stop as I continue to kick, pound my hands and even my shoulder into it. Then after maybe five minutes of struggling and probably bruising myself I stop and try to think of some other way out of here. That is until the door flies open and hits me in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Where is she?" Nate asks angrily, a knife in his hand.

"What the hell, Nate." I rub my arm as I don't take my eyes off the knife.

"Where's Emily!" he yells this time.

I slowly look up at him, his eyes are very angry looking. "I don't know."

He walks closer and grabs me by the arm, then turns me around and puts his arm around my neck. "Emily!" he brings me to the door, giving me a view of the hallway, "If you don't get out here I'll slit Jessie's throat!"

I start to panic and my breathing gets a little rapid. Then I see someone walk out of one of the rooms and looks at me. Em has a scared look on her face as he lets me go and I don't think twice but to elbow him in the stomach, "Em, go!" He stumbles back into the room for a second. Then we see her run past the door and he tries to get around me so I grab his arm before he can take off, "Leave her…"

He swings his arm into me and knocks me backwards, "Get off me!" he yells as the knife slashes my side and I fall into a dresser close by. My back smacks up against it hard enough that it knocks the wind out of me for a second.

He takes off out the door when I look back up at him, not even double checking to make sure I'm okay. "Nate!" I groan in pain when I move and look down at my side, there's blood gushing out of where my shirt is ripped open. My breathing picks up and I start to shake a bit. It looks like the knife got me better than I thought as it seems like a deep long gash. "Oh my God." I set both my hands on it and press down, gritting my teeth in pain as tears slide down my face. Then I take a deep breath and try not to panic as I carefully dig into my pocket to get my phone without hurting my side. I look at my phone that is now stained in blood from my hand and to no surprise there is no service, which makes me do exactly what I was trying not to do…panic. "Heeelp!"

After about ten minutes of probably bleeding to death, hoping that someone would bust through the door from my yell for help because I was afraid to move, I decide to try my best to get up from the floor. It's definitely harder than it should be since I now feel really dizzy, but I manage to get to my feet. I weakly walk my way into the hallway and through the door to the living room. To my surprise someone is sitting on the sofa, but it is not who I would have expected to be here.

"Paige?" my heart races as I see her tied up in tape, bringing back the memories of Mona.

She looks at me and her eyes pop out of her head, tape on her mouth as she screams at me. "Mmmmmm!"

I feel a little dizzy and sweat is dripping down my face, but I try to stay focused. "I got you." I look to the kitchen and slowly walk over to the counter, feeling like I'm going to pass out as I grab a knife and then sit next to her. I try to keep myself in check enough not to think about my situation with Mona as I watch her struggle to get out and plead with me in the tape. On top of that trying not to pay attention to how much pain I'm in right now, because I know I need to help her. "Hold still okay?"

She nods, "Mhm."

I put one bloody hand on the tape on her body and bring up the other with the knife to put under it. I start to cut as fast as I can without stabbing her, because my hand is starting to shake. From both fear and probably losing too much blood, but I manage to do so without any problem and then do the same with her hands.

She takes the one on her mouth off herself once she is free, "Thanks."

I have to lean back against the cushion for support, wincing a bit as I do. "No problem."

"Holy shit. Jessie, are you okay?" she gets closer to me and looks at my injury.

"Nate stabbed me. What the hell is going on?"

"I'll explain later." Her voice is shaky as she gets up and grabs a cloth from the kitchen. "We need to get you to the hospital."

"Forget that. Where is Emily?"

She sits back next to me and pushes the cloth into my side, making me wince in pain. "Sorry." She continues to put pressure on it, "Nate isn't who we think he is." She sounds a bit terrified. "He went after Em. He is completely insane."

"What do you mean?"

"Something else to be explained later." The sound of sirens comes to our ears and flashing lights come to the window. "Think that's our cue to get out of here. Can you walk?"

I take a deep breath and nod, "Yea. I think so."

She has me hold onto the cloth and stands up, holding out her hands, "Then come on." She gets me to my feet and when I take a step I almost collapse. "Okay." she sets my arm around her neck, her hand getting covered in blood from holding onto mine, "Guess not." So she has no choice but to help me along to the cabin door to get outside.

She half carries me all the way to where the ambulance truck is near the lighthouse that is about less than a two minute walk away from the cabin. If it was any farther I wouldn't have made it halfway. I practically stumble to the ground, bringing Paige with me just as we were getting close to one of the cops because I can't stand anymore.

"Help!" Paige yells at the cop when she can't get me to stand up. He turns to us as she helps me lay back onto her, because sitting up straight hurts. "You're okay, Jessie." I feel her hand pressing down onto my hand that is holding the cloth on my side, helping put presser on it too.

As I look around everything is spinning a bit, my breathing getting faster, and sweat dripping down my face. Then I'm just able make out Aria, Spencer and Hanna running to stand behind a yellow DO NOT CROSS tape that they put up when someone dies. My heart sinks to my stomach, because Em isn't there. Where is she?

"What happened?" The cop gets to us with an EMT right behind him.

"Some lunatic stabbed her and kidnapped me." Paige tells them, because I'm too busy freaking out about the fact that Emily isn't with the girls.

"What are your names?" the cop asks as the EMT lady kneels in front of me.

"I'm Paige and this is Jessie."

"Jessie." The lady says to me, "Where did you get stabbed?"

I'm not paying much attention though. I want the girls to see that I'm here. "Aria!" I yell.

She turns to where she hears my voice and her face lights up. I'm not sure whether from relief or surprise, maybe both. She points over to me as she says something to both girls.

"Jessie." The lady says to me again, "My name is Tammy. I need you to listen to me okay?" she flashes a light in my eyes and it makes me focus on her as I follow it. "Where are you hurt?"

I look down at mine and Paige's hands that are still holding onto the cloth. She follows my gaze and asks us to remove our hands and takes it off. She shines the light onto the cut and I hear Paige gasp a bit. I get why she does, blood is spilling out like crazy so much more than before as it's staining most of my shirt. It also seems to have opened up more, probably from all the moving around and falling I did.

"It's alright." Tammy says, "You'll just need some stitches and be good as new."

There's an ambulance close to the lighthouse, so Paige and Officer Derek help me to my feet and bring me over to one of them. Aria yells my name and I look at her, she's a but dazed to see but I smile at her and tell her I'm okay as Officer Derek jumps inside. He turns back to me and helps me in, sitting me down on the side. Then he hops out and has Paige follow him as Tammy gets in and tells me to lay down on the stretcher so she can start cleaning up the cut. Paige looks at me in concern but follows him anyway. Then I hear some screaming and look to see the other EMT's are wheeling someone on a stretcher towards the truck we are in.

"We need to get this man to the hospital ASAP!"

"I'm not done with this patient, Brian." She tells him.

"Then she will have to ride with us. He is bleeding out…fast."

She nods and has me press down on my cut with gauss so that she can tape it up, because she can't do much more while the vehicle is moving. "When we get to the hospital we'll have the doctor check it out for infection."

I don't argue as she gets up and moves my bed a bit so it can make room for the other patient. I feel super faint now, and a bit hot. Sick is probably not the right word for how I'm feeling as sweat is dripping down my face a lot more than earlier and I'm in a massive amount of pain. My vision is starting to dim more and my breathing is picking up just as they bring this person into view right next to me.

My eyes bug out, "Caleb." My heart starts to race as I watch him in the stretcher next to me. He's bleeding on his stomach and unconscious. "Oh my God."

"You know this man?" she asks me.

I nod, "He's my friend. But…" my head starts to spin and I have to rest it on the pillow behind me. I hear the sound of doors closing and my vision goes black.

When I wake up I'm in a hospital room. God do I hate being in this place. I look around and see Dr. Richards is standing beside my bed. He is taking out an empty IV bag stained red off of the stand and sets it aside when he notices I'm awake. "Jessie."

I rub one of my eyes from exhaustion and half smile. "Hi, Dr. Richards." I say a bit hoarse.

He slightly smiles and shakes his head. "Back again I see."

I laugh a bit. "Well I am your favorite accident prone patient aren't I? If I don't come in at least five times a year then I'm not doing my job very well am I?"

He laughs, "Interesting theory."

"Am I okay?"

He nods, "You got some stitches and lost a lot of blood. But you've been here for a few hours or so. So long enough that we were able to get your blood lose back to normal. You just need some rest."

"I'd like to rest at home."

"Your family is out in the waiting room. I'll go get them for you." He stops for a second. "Do you remember what happened?"

I start to think. _What did happen?_ Then I look at him, "Honestly, it's a little fuzzy. I mean…I clearly got hurt since I'm laying in this bed, but I'm not sure what's going on."

He slowly nods, "You were stabbed."

"I was?" I wrack my brain for anything familiar with that statement. "I don't remember that."

"That's okay. Don't want to overwhelm you all at once. I'll get your aunt and uncle."

I smile, "Thanks." Then I close my eyes from exhaustion. Once I do something pops into my head and I sit up a bit too fast for comfort as I wince in pain. "Wait." He turns to me, "Caleb…what happened to Caleb?"

"Caleb Rivers?"

I nod, "Yes. I think I remember seeing him hurt in an ambulance."

"Well…he was shot." My heart sinks as he adds. "But he had surgery and is recovering. He's fine."

I sigh, "Oh thank God."

"Please lay back down, Jessie. You aren't to your full strength and I don't want you opening up your stitches."

I lay back onto my pillow and watch the ceiling. My head pounding from a headache and the spot where I was stabbed throbbing just as badly in pain. What the hell happened?

So it happens to be that Uncle Tyler, Aunt Katie and Aunt Casey all came to make sure I'm okay. So there's a handful of people waiting when I get into the waiting room with Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron. Katie has completely changed herself in the matter of months. She is not the same person I used to constantly argue with throughout the years. She got herself so straight that she decided to go back to school after flunking out from her rebelled stage and is thinking of becoming a doctor. Since we reconnected we haven't had any major arguments, which is still weird to get used to.

When I get home Aria explains everything to me while I'm resting up in our room on my bed. Bobby is there with Sam but the adults are all bonding downstairs as Aria tells the story of what happened. Apparently Nate was not really Nate St. Germain. In fact, there is no one by the name Nate St. Germain in Maya's family at all. This guy's real name was Lyndon James, and he is now dead. He chased Emily from the cabin to the top of the lighthouse where she stabbed him. Thinking he was dead Caleb runs in to save the day with a gun on him and set it to the side to comfort Emily, in which case Nate, or now Lyndon took it when they didn't notice and shot Caleb in the stomach. Lyndon had kidnapped Paige because he was the jealous stalker that Maya had told Em about before she came back to Rosewood. He threatened to kill Paige for taking Maya away from him. So his theory was killing Em's girlfriend for taking his away. He happened to be the guy who killed Maya, which means that Garrett didn't and is now a free man.

All this is great to know because I remember none of it myself, and that includes whatever happened to me after being asked by him to go see the sunset. Neither Paige or Emily had been with me when I got stabbed. But apparently Paige was there when I walked out to the living room bleeding, so she explained everything to them and Aria explains to me what I went through. This is completely nuts that I can't remember anything myself. I swear my life is getting crazier and crazier every day.


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey everyone, here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Hope you enjoy, please leave a review!**

* * *

It's days later after that crazy incident at the cabin and is now Halloween. I'm pretty back to normal when it comes to not having a big hole in my side, but I still need to take it easy so I haven't gone back to school yet. Not going back to school means that I haven't been able to play basketball either, which blows. On top of that my memory of what happened to me never came back. I was told that he drugged me with a date rape drug and this made me forget most of the night. I'm kinda grateful for this, because I don't need those nightmares on top of the rest I still occasionally have with the car accident and Mona.

Caleb is thankfully out of the hospital now after recovering from his shot injury. He's been home resting and hasn't gone back to school either. Then Emily is having a bit of a hard time copping with the fact she killed someone. We've all tried to tell her that she had no choice, this guy was trying to kill her and Paige. He almost killed Caleb and I'm sure if he had the chance he would have killed me as well if he had to. But she is making the best of things by going out for Halloween today.

"You sure you won't come with us to the Ghost Train?" Aria asks as she is trying on her costume in Ezra's apartment.

This year Rosewood decided to have a Halloween themed party on one of the trains, basically a dance, just train style. I'm not really up to going though 'cause I've kind of grown out of it. I know I'm a party pooper, but I won't be missing much. This town is scary enough without me having to celebrate a holiday that adds to the weirdness of Rosewood. I mean, someone put a decoration of a coffin with Alison's name on it and the kid who lives at that house popped out of it pretending to be a zombie Ali. Do I really need to see more of that?

I'm sitting on the couch watching TV as I turn to her. "I'm sure. Halloween isn't my thing. Plus I don't even have a date anyway."

"What about Blake?" she starts taking off her costume.

Me and Blake decided to let people know when he visited me the following day after I got hurt. So we basically told them that we are working towards a relationship after hiding it from everyone since we went bowling a couple weeks ago. We are still going to take it slow, try to build up to more. Even though we already kiss and hold hands I still rather go with the flow rather than jump into something after months of being broken up from Andrew. Speaking of Andrew, we are talking again but it isn't much. Mostly only during class when he decides to be man enough not to ignore me, happened to be more because I got hurt and now he's trying to make up for being an ass. But other than that we haven't hung out. Not that I have the time these days with this whole _A_ problem.

I turn back to the TV, "The triplets are going to New York to visit family. Won't be back till Monday afternoon."

"Aw that sucks." She walks over to Ezra's bed and packs the costume away. "Well you don't want to go to at least hang with me and the girls? I mean, what are you going to do while we are on the train?"

I start laughing at the TV. It's giving Tom and Jerry, and Jerry just outsmarted Tom by running between a dog's legs and had Tom run right into it. Tom the cat never learns his lesson on how smart that mouse is. After I calm down I say, "Mike isn't going either. We are going to spend the day playing video games, or going to play some basketball."

"First of all, you need to relax. You are barely recovered from that injury."

I look at her, "Do you see a bleeding hole in my side anymore?"

"Second of all…" She ignores me, "You two need a new hobby. That's all you do when you're both home."

The front door opens and Ezra walks inside. "How are my girls doing today?"

We both look at each other and smile, "Your girls are doing just fine." Aria says as she walks over and kisses him. "But you do remember that I am actually your girl…right?"

He laughs, "Yes Aria. How could I forget?"

"Ezra is like my big brother, Ria. I doubt he would think of me in another way."

"Exactly." He nods and walks over to give me a hug. "How's the battle wound?"

I laugh, "The scar is gross looking, but better."

"That's good."

Aria walks over to the bed and closes up the bag she has her costume in, realizing it was still a bit open. "You almost ruined my surprise for tonight." She tells him.

He has a confused look, "Uh…what?"

"My costume."

"Oh…right. About that." He puts a sad look. "I can't go."

I find this as my cue to leave. I don't know if this is going to turn into an argument, but I rather not be here for it. "Sooo." I get up, "I'm going to head to the store to grab the money for the rent. Then I'm going to walk over to the bank. I'll see you at home?"

She looks at me, "You don't want a ride?"

I shake my head, "Nah I'm good. I could use the walk."

"Okay. I'll let you know when I'm on my way." She tells me as I hug her.

"Kay." I hug Ezra, "See you around." I smile at him and leave.

When I get home after the bank I head over to the family room. No one is in here so I grab the remote and switch on some Netflix. I search through it for awhile till I land on a show that interests me. In the middle of an episode a couple hours later I hear the door slam and footsteps as someone is heading upstairs. I don't really pay much attention to it though as my phone rings and I look at it. Flashing on the screen is the word _Unknown_ , making my heart sink.

I hesitate for a good minute before deciding to open it up. I click on the message and it says, " _You think you can hide just because you decided not to go tonight? Guess again. There's a surprise being revealed at the end of the ride. Be on that train if you want to know what it is. Don't tell, or things will be far worse than getting kidnapped or stabbed. - A_ "

My heart sinks to my stomach. I don't feel good as I get up and run upstairs, slamming the bathroom door behind me.

Walking into the Brew with Aria as we wait to board the train I'm feeling light headed. I had to come up with some excuse on why I changed my mind without telling her I got a text from _A_. What did I tell her? That Mike canceled and I was afraid to be home by myself since her dad wasn't going to be around and I didn't want to bother Aunt Ella. I guess it was partly true though. Mike did cancel, and after that message I sure as hell was scared to be in that house alone. She just probably thinks I'm scared because it's Halloween and with everything going on lately it's becoming a toll on me.

I had to get together a last minute costume, so I decide to go as a Demigod based off of the Percy Jackson series. I'm wearing black basketball shorts, a necklace with about four colored clay beads, and an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt I had gotten for my birthday a couple years ago. It has the camp's name from the series and a silhouette of a Pegasus. Yes, I am a dork and I'm proud of this!

Now when it comes to the girls, Aria is dressed as someone from the movie The Great Gatsby. Hanna is Marilyn Monroe. Emily is someone called Barbarella (whatever that is), Paige being her date in a tux and old fashion top hat. Then you have Spencer and Toby who look like they came out of an old mobster movie. They always go all out for this holiday.

Luckily I'm not the only one dateless since Ezra canceled on Aria. Then Caleb and Hanna have been sneaking around pretending not to be together in order to keep him safe from _A_ , so he's not here. Definitely the safest bet is those two not being around, because I sure as hell wish I wasn't.

In the beginning when we get on the train I'm having a pretty good time with the girls as we dance (involuntarily as they do their usual force me onto the dance floor) in one of the train cars that they set up as a dance section. Adam Lambert is singing and I just go with it as they refuse to let me leave. Yes, I said Adam Lambert, as in the singer from American Idol. But then I start to feel really sick and end up in the bathroom for like ten minutes. Em finds me in there sometime later and helps me sit down in one of the train chairs. Did you know being on a train makes me motion sick? Yea me either. So I just sit on the cushioned chair with my head resting on the table in front of me, feeling like I'm going to puke.

"You okay?" I hear sometime later.

I open my eyes and look through my dizziness. Noel is watching me in concern. "Oh, hey." I lift my head off of my arms while he sits beside me and I smile. "I'm good. Just a bit too much movement for me, it's making me sick."

Now Jenna walks over and sits across from us. "Hey."

I half smile, "Hey Jenna." I figure it's better to play nice rather than fight on a train where we can't really get away from each other.

"I'm sorry for the attitude I gave you the day I was handing out invitations for my birthday."

I'm a little shocked at this but nod. "No problem." Of course this is a problem because she was being an ass to the girls for no reason, but I'm rolling with it.

"How are you?" she asks. "From the night that psycho attacked you with a knife."

I slowly nod, impulsively touching my side. "I'm good. Have a scar now, but I'm fine. It wasn't that bad."

"Is it true you don't remember anything?" Noel asks. I look at him and he smiles a bit, "Sorry, that was overstepping."

I shake my head, "No it's okay. But yea, it's true." I shift my eyes away from him for a second out of feeling awkward, "The doctors said that they had found signs of the date rape drug in my system. It makes people forget things." I look back at them and they both have a scared look. "I rather not remember that night anyway, so it's okay."

They both nod, "Well as long as you're okay." Noel says as he puts his hand on my back out of comfort and smiles. The same smile that always makes me melt inside.

I look at Jenna who smiles at me too and I nod, slightly smiling myself. "Yea, I'm good. No worries."

A half hour later I head off to go find the girls in the dance car with Noel and Jenna. When we get there they take off one way and me the other. I don't find them in here though so I walk out into the hallway where they have rooms in between two of the cars and go to head back the other way. That's when I run into someone in a costume and weird mask that kind of reminds me of a joker that a king would have to make them laugh from the old days. This person is super tall and kind of holds onto my arm really tight as I apologize for bumping into them, but they don't say anything. Just stares down at me like a creep and slowly lets go.

I don't know why but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach all of a sudden as I get around them and rush to the next car that I'm hoping has more people than this one. When I turn around I see the same costume following me, but kind of fast paced until I make it to a crowed part of the train and run into Spencer. For a second she scares the hell out of me as I'm looking around for this person, but they are gone. Then she gets my attention again when she says she's looking for Aria because they can't find her.

"She's missing?" my heart is in my throat now. There's no way that _A_ meant taking Aria was the surprise I was going to be here for. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Hanna said she saw her in that train car." She points over to an opening for the one next to us. "But when we checked she wasn't there. All we found was her hand bag. Then a message came on her phone from _A_ saying _Guess who won't make it to the end of the line_."

"This is a nightmare." My breathing starts to pick up. "This is my fault, I should have told you guys."

She gives me a weird look and brings me over to sit down at a table, sitting in the chair across from me. "Tell us what?"

I go into my basketball shorts and take out my phone. I search through my messages and then hand it to her. She starts to read and then her eyes widen a bit, looking back at me. " _A_ made you come onto this train?"

I nod, "I think this is what _A_ meant by surprise. Had I not gotten sick and stayed with her, or said something instead of getting scared we would have kept a better eye on each other."

She hands my phone back to me and stretches out her arms, opening her hands up and I put mine in hers. "It's not your fault." She squeezes both my hands, " _A_ scared you into coming and scared you into not telling us. This _A_ is just as smart as Mona. They used your fear against you and you didn't know what they'd do. After what you went through I don't blame you for taking this threat seriously." She lets go and stands up, "Come on. We are going to find her."

We find her alright. Right inside a freaking body sized box that is almost tossed out of the train door. The box is half thrown out and about to tip over as we hear her screaming for help, which completely shatters my heart to hear her like that. I can tell she is crying and terrified just as me, Hanna and Spencer grab onto it before it can fall out of this train.

"Ria!"

"Help!" she yells. "Let…me out!" she says in between a heartbreaking sob.

"Ria, relax!"

"Jessie!"

I look at Spencer, "How are we going to get her out of this?"

She looks scared but then goes into her mode where she tries to stay strong and starts to look around. Then she walks to the corner of the train and finds a crowbar, handing it to me so I can get the middle open.

"It's okay, Ria. We got you. Hold on!" With all my strength I push the crowbar down.

When the top topples over Emily leans in and grabs her, pulling her out of it. The look on her face is heartbreaking to see. She is in tears and her eyeliner is running black down her face from crying. She is still sobbing uncontrollably and throws herself right into me and Hanna, squeezing us with an arm each tightly.

"It's alright." I say, trying not to cry at the fact that I almost lost her.

"Oh my God." Spencer says from beside me.

When Aria lets me go I look at what they are all looking at. There is another body in there, and it is a dead Garrett Reynolds. I'll tell you right now that whatever food and drink I have left in my stomach does not stay in it. Because I turn away and run off to a corner of the train to throw up. This _A_ so took it to the next level, and I am now regretting more than before ever agreeing to be a part of this.

After my puking fest, which was such a heroic way to save Aria (sarcasm), we head back to the main party and tell an adult what happened. They stop the train wherever we are and they call the cops. We head off to sit down and after we are all relaxed and done freaking out the girls start telling us that Garrett was on the train to tell Spencer what he knew. That Jenna thought he killed Ali that night because they ran into her and since she was blind he made it seem like he hurt her when he didn't. But apparently the last person he saw talking to Alison that night was Uncle Byron.

"What?" Aria says.

"No way. That's ridiculous." I get out. "What business would he have talking with a thirteen year old girl in the middle of the night?"

"Aria Montgomery?" We all look to the side as a cop approaches. "Will you come with me so we can make sure you are okay?"

She looks at all of us for a second and then gets up. She follows behind him to another part of the train. While she is busy doing that I just barely listen as the girls are still talking about the conversation that Spencer had with Garrett when Paige comes and sits next to me on the couch.

I look at her, not really sure of the reason she decided to do this. Ever since the Nate incident she has been very distant from me. I thought it would have brought us closer, but I think the fact she remembers everything when I don't makes it harder for her to come to me and talk.

"Hey." She says, seeming like she feels awkward to be near me.

"Hey, Paige." I say, slightly smiling.

"What a party huh."

"I nod, "Yep."

It gets awkwardly quiet. Then she gets out, "I'm sorry I've been ignoring you."

I'm sitting up against the armrest, looking down at my hands during the silence, so I slowly look back up at her. "It's okay." I shrug and shake my head a bit, "We were never close to begin with. I'm not taking it personally."

"But this should have changed that." She says, shifting her eyes way from mine. "I'm just…"

"Scared to relive it." I finish for her.

She looks back at me and nods, "Yea. But also since you don't know what happened I don't want to trigger anything. I don't want you to go through what I go through."

"Panic?"

She slowly nods, "Yea…"

I half smile, "Paige. After all the crap I've been through since my family died in that accident all I do is panic. It's become apart of me and I deal with it. It's nothing new. So if I happen to remember details of what happened that night then oh well. It'll just be another thing to overcome." I look down at my hands again, "I mean…nothing can beat what Mona did and yet here I am, still living my life as normally as I possibly can despite everything that is going on."

When Aria comes back with the cop she has one of her wrists bandaged up. They start talking about Garrett and how she doesn't believe him that her dad had anything to do with it. Then Ezra walks inside out of nowhere, telling her he wanted to surprise her when it stopped but since we stopped nowhere near the end of the line he drove beside the tracks to look for the train. He can be super romantic sometimes.

"Why don't you tell the cops you did it so the rest of us can go home." Noel comes from one of the seats behind us. I'm now standing so he stands beside me.

"You know what, can it Noel!" Hanna yells.

"Oh shut up, Hanna." Jenna says from beside him.

Noel looks at me as Emily says something for Jenna's outburst. "How do you believe everything they say?"

I raise my eyebrow, as if that is a stupid question. "Because they are my best friends."

"I think you need new friends."

"Stop being an ass okay? Everything they've been through in the past year has been true. But no one ever believes them till it's too late and I will not make that mistake too."

He eyes me for a second and then turns to the girls. "Stop trying to pull everyone into every mess you bitches make for yourselves."

"Noel, stop it." I say a little pissed.

He looks at me again but then turns back to them, "And stop involving Jessie in all your shit. She is always behind you 100% and all you guys seem to do is keep getting her hurt." He's right of course, but I wouldn't change helping them for anything.

I see someone approaching us from the corner of my eye and turn, "Back off." Toby gets in front of me to be up in Noel's face and Hanna grabs my arm to pull me over to her.

"Or what?" Noel asks.

Toby has a crazy look in his eyes as he grabs Noel by the front collar of his costume and shoves him towards the drinks cooler. Noel has a pissed off look as he swings at Toby and misses when he moves. He swings again and misses as Toby grabs him and pushes him into the cooler again. This time it falls to the floor as the drinks and ice start to go all over the place. The scary part is that those are not all that comes out of the cooler as a body bag slides out too.

My stomach does a twist as it knots up from feeling sick again. I look at the girls and all of them have their mouths hanging open. Jason is here and he can't take his eyes off of the body bag as he slowly walks to it. That is most likely Alison's dead body as I quickly realize this is what _A_ wanted me to see. I cannot deal with this _A_ anymore.


	22. Chapter 22

**Here you go everyone, another chapter.**

 **Hope you're enjoying what I put up. Let me know in an review.**

 **I do not take credit for Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform own.**

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It's a few days after Halloween and my mind has been very preoccupied lately since then. Finding Garrett in that box dead because of something he knew, and then seeing Aria in there too and how she was after being trapped in it with him left an imprint in my brain. Not only did it remind me so much of when I was in Mona's grasp that I'm now a bit jumpy, but I'm worried about Aria. I'm afraid that she is holding in how she's feeling and rather her come to me. But I don't want to push her because I was the same after what I went through.

Now when I wake up this morning I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm not sure what it is but I think it's going to be a horrible day, which is usually the case whenever I get this feeling. So I'm praying that I'm wrong this time around.

I tag along with Aria to meet up with Spencer at the Brew before school, taking a seat at one of the not taken sofas while they go get their coffees. I can tell they are both distracted and in the middle of an intense conversation as they walk back over to me. I can't hear what they are saying though until they are right next to me.

"Did you ever ask your dad?" Spencer says when they sit down.

I look up from my phone as she says that and see the look on Aria's face. She looks mad, but yet she is trying to act stupid. "Ask him what."

"About what Garrett said." Spencer tells her. "You know, about him meeting up with Ali that night."

"My dad and I are finally getting along." She tells her, seeming to get upset as she stands up. "I'm not going to slap him with some wacked out story Garrett made up so he could clear his own name."

"I hear you but…"

"But what?" Now she sounds mad, "Spencer, Garrett lied about a lot. Why are we suddenly going to believe anything he ever said." Then she walks out.

Spencer has a sad look on her face as I say, "She's not wrong Spence."

She looks down at me, "I know, but we need to make sure."

"My uncle wouldn't have killed her. I've known him practically my whole life, he's not a murderer."

She eyes me for a few seconds, then sits down. "I have to tell you something."

I don't like the way she said that. Her serious tone and attitude is on overdrive right now. That doesn't come up unless it's something not good, which means I'm not going to like what she has to say. A whole bunch of things pop into my head for what it can possibly be, but I can't pin point exactly what she's thinking.

"Okay?"

She takes a deep breath and that just makes me more nervous. "Hanna text us this morning about an unwanted visitor popping up at her house in the middle of the night."

"Like a wild animal?" I say, not getting why she's so on edge but hoping that this little joke would make her relax.

She shakes her head slightly as she opens her mouth for a second, seeming to debate what she wants to say. "Not exactly."

"Spencer you're scaring me." My heart is starting to pound hard against my chest.

She takes another deep breath, "Mona got released from Radley last night and is supposed to be coming back to school." She said this kind of fast that for a second I think I heard wrong.

My mouth drops open when it sinks in, my heart pounding faster than it was before. My head starts to spin and out of an impulse I touch the scar from the crowbar that never went away. Then I hear " _You ruined my plans you know_." echo in my head over and over as I cross my arms to keep my hands from shaking, but it's not helping the rest of my body.

Spencer leans forward to put a hand on my leg, but I move it away and shake my head. "No."

"Jessie."

"No." I shake my head more, "They can't do that. They can't let her out. Not after what she did to me. To _us_."

"I know, Jessie. But we have to deal with the fact that the doctors think she is better and she's going to be around again."

I watch her for awhile, not sure what to say. So she leans in again and this time I let her put her hand on my leg. She rubs it with her thumb and slightly smiles, but that doesn't cheer me up. "I'm going home. I can't be in school when she gets there."

"You have to face your fear."

"I've faced my fear plenty of times since that day, Spencer." I say meaner than I meant to. "All the nightmares I had and still have almost every night that has me too scared to sleep. When I had to retell the story at the therapist's office over and over until I could say it without freaking out because she thought it would help. I've had my share of reliving and conquering my fear." I take a deep breath to relax a bit and look down, "I mean, I even went back to that damn motel, and went as far as to sneak into Radley despite being terrified of being around her. Now I have to see her walking around freely because she's supposedly better?"

She seems lost for words for a few seconds as she doesn't answer me. "Jessie." She finally says and brings her hand under my chin to have me look at her. "We are all going to be there. And we are all scared too, but we can't skip school because she's back. We have to show her we can live our lives without her ruining it." She stands up and sticks out her hand. "Okay? We are going to be with you if she shows up, and we all have a good amount of classes with you. You'll be okay."

I watch her hand for awhile and then grab it. "Fine."

"I'd say that's the spirit but it wasn't a willing fine." She half smiles.

I laugh a bit, "I just want to get this over with."

We catch up to Aria outside the Brew. She intended to come back in after cooling down a bit from their convo but when she looked through the window she saw that we were in the middle of a conversation. She could tell that I looked upset and had a feeling she knew what it was about, so she didn't want to interrupt.

"You should have told me." I say to her as we walk to school.

"I know. I didn't know how."

"So I told her I would tell you."

"You guys didn't want to tell me before because you thought I wouldn't leave the house."

They both nod, "Plus we needed time to figure out how to drop a bomb like that on top of the fact that we were processing it ourselves." Spencer adds.

"So basically we lose one student for another. I think I prefer Jenna." I say.

After Garrett died, Jenna ran off and transferred schools. No one knows why, but Spencer has a theory that since her and Garrett were a thing at one point that whoever killed him will be after her. So her way to get away she decided to go to a different school. That is not sounding like a bad idea right now.

We run into to Emily not too far away from the school. She has her bike by her side as she walks the rest with us and talks about the fact that her dad put up a new security system and she is basically on lockdown. Then Hanna pops up as Emily is securing her bike on the bike rack and ends up bringing up Aria's dad again, which pisses Aria off and she starts to walk to the front steps. That is until she stops in her tracks and it makes me bump into her when I decide to run after her to make sure she's alright.

"Shit." I say as I let her go from almost knocking her over, "My bad, but why did you…"

She turns to me and grabs my hands in hers. "Don't react."

My face drops, probably losing all the color in my face as I feel sick. I know exactly why she told me that. "I want to go home now." I don't take my eyes off of her because I'm afraid to look away.

"You'll be fine. Just don't react as we pass her okay?" She squeezes my hands, "Take a deep breath and calm down."

She stands next to me and looks up. My eyes are still glued to the ground as she tells me that Mona is going to be to the left side of us so she wants to be wedged between to keep her farther away from me. Then she grips my hand better, placing her fingers between mine and pulls me towards the stairs. I'm doing all I can to fight my impulse to run the other way as I keep my pace with her.

I decide to look up from the ground and see that most of the kids are looking to the side. Some are slowing down to look and some are just by passing her completely. Mona is standing at the bottom of the steps by the stone wall, looking a bit scared as everyone is looking at her in disbelief that she is here. As we get to the bottom steps Aria looks at her, still holding my hand in hers. We both walk up the steps and I give a quick glance at her. My heart is racing so fast I feel like I'm going to pass out.

She sees us and smiles, nodding in a hello. "Hello Aria. Hello Jessie." She says sweetly.

My mind flashes back for a second to her in the black hoodie with the tape in her hand. But when I come back from it the Mona standing there isn't in her pink sweater like she was before I flashed back, she's now in the black hoodie. My breathing starts to rapid as Aria forces me faster up the stairs and to my locker.

"Breathe." She tells me when I have to put my hand on my locker to keep myself from collapsing, because my vision is starting to fade.

"I…I need to get out of here." I say in between a painful breath.

"What you need to do is calm down. You're giving yourself a panic attack."

I take another deep breath, doing my best to keep myself from passing out as I turn around and lean up against my locker. "I can't go through school like this Aria."

"Just breathe." She says calmly as the other girls get to us, Emily popping up by her locker while Hanna and Spencer stand in front of me with Aria.

"How are you guys so calm?" I can feel tears starting to creep up on me now and I do all I can to blink them away before they can spill out.

Instead of answering that Hanna looks at me in fear just after she turns away from down the hall. "Do you have your stuff for History so we can get to class?"

I nod, "In my backpack." I take another breath, "But I have to get stuff for my other classes."

"Get it later." She tells me very seriously, "Because we need to go…like now."

I know for a fact it's probably because Mona is on her way to us and she wants to get me out of here. She's more worried about me than herself. So I nod and allow her to haul me away from where I was standing and go to first period.

Sadly, first period turns into a nightmare when Mona walks into the same class fifteen minutes late. As soon as she does everyone not only looks at her, but they turn to the girls and me also. I have to do all I can not to freak out in the middle of class now when I see her and that makes it hard when people are watching me as if I'm going to explode.

Her walking inside adds to my anxiety that I already had, making it go on overload. Why was it already so high? Well besides knowing she was back in school it's also because when we came into history earlier we found out that our regular history teacher had her baby. That means she has a sub now, and it just so happens to be Meredith filling in. Now that she is a teacher though I have to call her Miss Sorenson while at school and I don't like it because I know she's the one who ruined this family…my family. This day is getting worse and worse.

Mona manages to sit away from me two rows to my right in the second seat in front of the class, while I'm in the last seat in the back row behind Spencer. This makes it ten times easier not to pay attention to her as I look down at my history book the whole time. Occasionally I look up whenever Meredith needs our attention to not let anyone notice that I'm not okay, because when I'm this way I usually zone out and don't notice much. The only one who can tell that I'm having a hard time is Spencer since she is in front of me. A few times she turns around to me to tell me to calm down because of my constant heavy breathing when I need to relax myself, or tapping something on the desk to keep busy.

After class we get held up by Meredith because she caught Aria texting and the others decided to wait up for her. So as an impulse I do too, listening to her give Aria a little lecture of not wanting her to talk about her in class because she saw what she wrote.

Once she clears that up she looks at me and smiles. "You must be Byron's niece."

"Uhh…yea."

"It's finally nice to meet you."

I feel awkward but I decide to play nice. "Yea. You too." I try to keep a straight face enough to smile.

Once we walk out we notice that everyone is doing their usual stalkish thing as Hanna heads over to Mona and walks to her locker together. I don't want to stick around so I walk off to my locker, which happens to be blocked by half the people in the hall. Lucas is one of them and I just ask him if he can move over so that I can get my things as quickly as I can to get to my next class. If everyone wants to watch that lunatic the whole time then be my guest. Me, I rather not have constant panic attacks every time I see her.

Lucas seems to be in a better mood lately. The last time I had any real contact of talking to with him before today was in September when he gave everyone a bad attitude every time we saw him. It got so bad that Hanna followed him to a classroom when Mr. Hackett was yelling at him in the hallway one day about his behavior being unsatisfying at the time. Not sure what got into him back then, but now he seems better. A bit scared and jumpy but friendlier for sure.

He seems to get the hint that I don't want to really talk as he tries to ask if I'm alright. So I just tell him I'll text him later on to let him know how I am if I survive having her around and then walk away. As I'm passing Mona and Hanna at Mona's locker I'm trying not looking over at them. I try to keep calm and tell myself to relax but my brain is too busy thinking of random thoughts, like telling myself not to whine, no more spiders, the usual stuff whenever I think about her. Then everyone starts to talk louder and I turn to see what the commotion is about. I see that Mona opened her locker to a note on the door that says, _Takes one mad cow to know another_. There's a brain stuck underneath as a knife is through it, how disgusting.

It's miracle that I make it through school without a full out panic attack. It definitely helped that the girls were there. Then after practice I'm heading out of the shower when I hear my phone ringing in my locker. Only a few people are still getting ready to go home but most of them are too busy talking about Mona and only look at me when they think I'm going to freak out. Those girls I don't really know well enough though to hope that they'd be nicer to me. I may have been given the captain spot for this team now but I know they aren't happy about it and won't give me the respect.

The only ones who moved up to varsity besides me is Rachel, Tori and Luna. Everyone else stayed in JV. But the ones who are on varsity are a mix of juniors and two other seniors that were here from last year. So besides Carter who is one of the seniors from last year and plays on the softball team with me, everyone else I don't know well enough to feel comfortable around or expect more of a nice attitude from.

I grab my phone from my locker and see Aria's name pop up. "Hello?"

"Oh thank God, I've been trying you forever." There's fear in her voice.

"What's wrong?"

"I walked out of Ezra's apartment and found a basket at his door with a balloon saying _It's a Boy_ and a card threatening to tell him about his son if I don't."

"Wait… _A_ is going to tell him?"

"The note wasn't signed by _A_ , but who else could it be?"

"Ria. Take a deep breath."

I hear her take one and then she says. "Jessie, if I hadn't walked out when I did he would have found that."

"I know. But he didn't. You're fine. But you really do need to tell him soon. It's going to be worse if you don't."

"I know." She takes another breath. "But there is something worse."

I walk out of the locker room with my backpack on my shoulder. "What could be worse than that?" I run into someone when I turn the corner and look up. "Oh. Sorry. Didn't see you."

I ran into the new janitor and he just smiles down at me. He's pretty tall and kind of creepy looking. "It's okay. I was rushing." He says, slightly smiling and then he walks down the hall.

I keep walking over to the front doors. "Sorry, Ria. What were you saying?" Her side of the call is silent. "Ria?"

"Who were you just talking to?" her voice is dead serious and I don't like it.

"The new janitor. I bumped into him when I walked out of the locker room."

"Oh my God."

"Jesus, Aria. What the hell. You're scaring the hell out of me."

"That was Harold, Jessie."

"Who?" I ask confused.

"Harold!" she yells in my ear. "The guy who used to own the Lost Woods Resort. He works at Rosewood High now."

I stop in my tracks in the middle of the front steps, my heart pounding. I never met him, but I do remember the name when Mona mentioned he wouldn't help me because he knew better than to go into that room. "What?"

"That's what I was going to tell you is worse. I recognized his voice when you talked to him. Don't panic okay. I'm coming to get you."

"But…"

"Wait for me in the parking lot."

She hangs up without me being able to say more and I run over to the parking lot without a second thought. Why can't we get away from the craziness of Mona's insane _A_ personality.


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey everyone! So since there is no PLL on today I decided to put this chapter up to keep you guys busy.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please leave me a review.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Aria rushes into our room in a panic Saturday night, waking me up from a nap as she sits on her bed out of breath. I check the time and realize it's almost eight. I so did not mean to fall asleep. I look back at her and see her face is completely terrified and that scares me. I know she had been doing a walk/run marathon at school with the girls for a cause that I couldn't go to because I had a game today, but that shouldn't have made her look scared. You'd think I'd be used to seeing her like this with all this _A_ madness, but I'm not. Seeing her upset or scared always affects me as if it's happening to me too and all I want to do every time is help her.

She is looking down at something in her hands that I can't make out because my surroundings are blurry. I think she is so absorbed in what she is doing though that she doesn't even know I'm here. So I watch her for a few seconds, not bothering to even sit up.

Finally thinking I should say something I go with, "Ria, you okay?"

"Fine." She says, still looking down at her hands.

I grab my glasses from the nightstand and put it on. Still lying on my side I continue to watch her seem panicked, reading what I now see is a piece of paper in her hands. "You don't look fine." She doesn't say anything so I sit up after a few minutes. "Aria." She looks at me and has tears in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

She looks at the paper in her hand and then looks back to me. "I think it's true."

I watch her in confusion. "What is?"

"Ali was framing dad for his affair. There was more to their relationship besides knowing her because of my friendship with her."

My mouth drops a bit, then I recover. "That can't be true."

"It is." She looks down again, "We found this in Harold's janitor's office."

"What is it?"

"A page from Ali's diary. It is about how she went to see dad at Hollis before she left to see her grandma that summer to get more money out of him."

"But…" I rack my brain for any reason to counter this claim, because it would suck if it's true. "But you said that Harold had Mona's things in there from her lair. How do you know that it's not just a fake to make you think that?"

"Because I know Ali's writing. This is hers."

I watch her in disbelief for a good minute. This has to be a Mona joke. Her dad did not get blackmailed from Alison, because then that means that it's a very good possibility that Garrett did see him with her the night she died.

Then a knock comes to the door and we both look at it when the door opens. She quickly hides the pages as Uncle Byron walks in, and he looks a little pissed.

"Hey, Uncle Byron."

"Hey kiddo."

"How's Meredith?" Aria asks and I'm completely confused.

"What happened to Meredith?"

"She got hurt at the marathon." She tells me.

"She…"

"I was called to take her to the hospital." Uncle Byron says, "Just took her home from the ER. The doctors checked her burns, gave her painkillers."

"How did she get burned?" I ask.

He walks closer to Aria's bed and I decide to finally get up and sit next to her. "She was in the storage grabbing something during the marathon at the high school when it was set on fire." He tells me, making my heart sink.

"Mona was in there too, but she made it out unharmed." Aria tells me. I'll admit, that sounds a little suspicious to me that she made it out without a scratch but Meredith did.

"I didn't want her to be home alone." He continues before I can say anything to her, "So I asked her to stay over."

Aria gives me a look, then stares up at her dad. "She's here?"

"Well, no. She didn't find that as a very tempting offer based on what happened earlier tonight." He looks down at his hands and then holds up a piece of paper that I hadn't noticed he had till now.

"What is it?" she asks.

He gives her a look and hands it to her. I lean closer to look at what he gave her. _Can you grab two swag bags for staff leaving early? -Thanks,_ I read it in my head. I don't really get why he looks so upset about a piece of paper that says something as simple as that though.

"That was put on Meredith's clipboard, sending her over to the storage shed." I look up at him, still confused on what this has to do with Aria. Clearly he is showing her for a reason. "Did one of your friends write that?"

"My friends?" She asks, staring back up at him from the note.

He watches her for a second. "I know what they're capable of." The look in his eyes are alarmingly scary. I've never seen him like that before.

I look at her and see she's giving him a very confused look. "What are you saying?" he gets quiet, watching her in a very serious way that I don't like coming from him. "Does Meredith think that we sent this to her?"

"Yea, she sure does."

"What?" I say and he looks at me, "Why the hell would she think that?"

"Jessie" He gives me a serious look, "Don't get involved."

"But…"

He looks at her, "Now that she's told me the truth about what happened on that first day, I don't think it's such a crazy thought." He turns back to me, "Which I'd hope you had nothing to do with because she didn't bring you up other than to tell me how polite you were the first day."

I know exactly what he is talking about now. Aria told me that when he talked to her on the first day Meredith took over history that she apparently told him how welcoming we all were. Which in reality we both know that she saw whatever the girls were texting about her during class and my guess is that they weren't the nicest things. Now it seems she thinks that the girls may have been the ones to leave that note and told Uncle Byron what really happened.

"Uncle Byron." I start, "It could have been anyone who left that note. It's not even signed."

"Dad." Aria gets in, "We would never…."

"Did you and your friends do this to her. Yes or no!" his tone is loud and very angry with her now and it's pissing me off. How could he think she would be the type of person to almost kill someone? Especially after everything she's been through.

"No." she says calmly, shaking her head as she looks up at him a bit scared. "No."

"Speak up now, Aria, while you can." His voice is scary and sounds threatening.

"Don't talk to her like that." My voice gets a little angry.

They both turn to me. Aria has a mix of scared and tearful, while he looks about ready to explode. "What did you say to me?"

I try to stay calm and not have my voice pick up anymore. I'm not usually disrespectful towards adults but he's taking it too far. "You know she is not the type of person to do something like this. Why are you treating her like she would."

He gives me a very scarily mad look. "Who gives you the right to talk to me like that?"

My heart starts to race and I'm starting to feel really hot as I try to keep my breathing from picking up too much. I've never seen him like this before and I don't like it, it's scary. "I was just…"

"Go downstairs." He says a little louder and angrier.

"Uncle Byron, I…"

"Leave, Jessie. Now." He says it calmly, but with a very mad tone.

"Dad…" Aria tries to get in.

"Go!" he yells this time, making me jump.

I don't think twice as I get up, kind of afraid he may hit me. That's how mad he seems. I look at Aria and I can tell that she is trying to tell me to relax because I'm shaking a bit now and my breathing is growing faster, like I'm about to have a panic attack. Then I walk to the door.

As I get into the hall I hear him say, "Do you have anything to say for yourself? Because these kinds of secrets come back to haunt us."

"What about yours?" is what I hear Aria say next, but I get out of earshot as I head to the stairs.

I don't stay downstairs when I get to the bottom. I'm fuming from anger and trying to keep myself from having a panic attack at the same time that I just rush out the front door. I slam it behind me as I walk without knowing where I'm going and end up at the park. I realize quickly that I left my phone at home, but I don't bother to walk back. I sit on the swing and just stare at the ground. For how long I couldn't tell you, but after awhile I hear a voice say my name and feet appear in front of me.

I look up and half smile, "Hey, Caleb."

He has concern on his face as he watches me, "You okay?"

I nod, "Yea. Yea I'm fine."

He sits on the swing next to me. "You sure? You look upset."

"Yea, I'm good. Just needed to get some fresh air."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, bugs making noise around us. The rattling of the trees as the window blows. Then he says, "Do you want to go for a walk? Maybe pick up something to eat? Then I'll take you home. Your stomach is growling."

I look at him and slightly laugh, "Sure."

I don't tell him anything about what happened. I don't know him enough to spring up my family problems with him. So we just take a walk over to the Grille and grab some sandwiches, catching up a bit. He asks how I am with Mona being back, my reaction being not well since I have flashbacks quit often when I see her. But I do my best to ignore it and avoid her if I can. Then somehow _A_ gets into the conversation since he's known for awhile what's been going on.

"Can't believe it's starting again." He says.

I nod, "I know. Whoever it is this time seems more vicious than Mona was."

"I think Mona was pretty vicious."

I shake my head, "Mona wanted revenge for Hanna being taken away and spilled secrets. She didn't go unburying people and trying to toss someone out of a moving train."

"Jessie. When she took you it was no simple thing. She tortured you."

I take a deep breath, and slowly nod. "Well yea, but I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about the girls."

"You need to stop separating yourself from them. They may have gone through things with her longer than you did but you did go through something. Don't make it seem like it was no big deal."

"I'm not. I'm just saying that we had no hard feelings against each other like she did with them. I just happened to get stuck in the middle of it."

"Stuck in the middle of something that almost got you killed."

"But now someone else is out to kill these girls. I want to know who."

From there he drops me off at home. When I walk inside Uncle Byron is sitting on the sofa in the living room, his cellphone to his ear as he turns. His face seems to go to relieved as he says to whoever is on the phone, "Nevermind, she just walked through the door." He gets quiet, "Yes, Ella, I'll let her know. Bye." He hangs up the phone and goes into mad mode as he gets up. "Where have you been!"

I roll my eyes and start to walk to the stairs, "Why do you care? You're not my dad."

"Jessie!"

I stop and turn to him, there's a little hurt in his expression. I know I shouldn't have said that, because he has always been like another dad to me. But the way he acted tonight was not the guy I grew up with. I don't know this person he has become. First he cheats on Aunt Ella, then he turns on Aria like that for someone who accused her over no evidence, and yells at me for defending her when he always told me to stand up for people.

"You don't leave the house like that without telling someone where you are going."

I cross my arms, "You told me to leave."

"I told you to go downstairs, not to walk out the door and disappear." His face softens, "I thought something happened to you." His voice is now calm.

"Now you want to be nice to me?"

"Look, I'm sorry I yelled at you. But you had no right to talk to me that way."

"And you had no right jumping down Aria's throat like that over something you don't know facts about. You're just taking someone else's word for it."

"I wanted the truth."

"Aria would never be the person to hurt someone physically like that. You should know that."

He looks like he's ready to lose his temper with me again, but he takes a deep breath. Once he does he says calmly. "Your aunt wanted me to tell you to make sure you have your phone on you next time you go out without telling someone." He takes another deep breath, "I agree with her. Don't ever do that again."

"Sorry."

He slowly nods, "Go on up to bed. Get some sleep."

Monday morning I wake up late because Aria headed out to meet with the girls early and I wanted to sleep in. Except I overslept a bit more than I wanted to and end up rushing around to get ready as fast as I can to meet her and the others at the Brew before school.

I find parking in the parking lot at school and then start to walk over to the Brew from there. It's a little chilly as I zip up my hoodie some more while I walk, the wind blowing every couple minutes as it makes me shake from the cold. When I walk through the door I run into someone and their coffee spills to the floor.

"Oh man. I'm sorry." I say as I grab some napkins from the counter. "I'll get you another one."

"No, it's okay. It happens."

My heart sinks and my stomach turns when I hear the voice. My heart racing and my brain flashing back to a memory, " _I have a surprise for you_." in that demented voice I heard the night Mona took me. This is the first time I've actually had any contact beside the rare moment of going up the stairs to get past her when she came back last Thursday. I have three classes with her but I did all I could to keep the flashbacks to a minimum and avoided her in the halls when I saw her. Luckily she never came to me those two days of school, but I knew it couldn't last forever.

"M-Mona." I gulp and turn around, holding the napkins as steady as I can so she doesn't see that I'm starting to shake and about to throw up.

She looks up from the floor and smiles, her usual nice smile that I was too blind to see past to know she was actually crazy. "Oh, Jessie, I didn't know that was you." She reaches her hand out to me and grabs the napkins, making me flinch a bit.

I look around the room and see that the girls are sitting on the couches we always hang out at across the room. They are in deep conversation and don't seem to notice that I could use their help right now. Then from the corner of my eye I notice Mona moving and when I turn she's getting to her feet.

She smiles, "I've been meaning to talk to you." She throws away her empty cup and dripping napkins full of coffee.

"O-Oh yea?" my voice is shaky and I can't help it, but I take a breath and try to relax. "What about?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing. We haven't talked in a very long time and you never came to visit me while I was…recovering." She has an innocent look as she says this, as if she thinks this a completely normal conversation to have with me.

I look down at her, blinking kind of quick in disbelief that she is actually saying this to me. "You thought I'd come and visit you?"

She nods, "Aria and Hanna did. So did Caleb and Lucas. I was very surprised not to see you since we're friends."

"Friends?" I say in shock. "You expected me to come see you just because we used to be friends?"

"We are still friends." She gives me her sweet smile and all I want to do is punch her in the face.

"If you were my friend, Mona, you wouldn't have done what you did." I can feel the heat rising to my face as all the built up anger towards her is starting to surface, but I stay calm. "You didn't think of that when you kidnapped and tortured me for hours, almost killing me a few times in the process." I'm trying not to raise my voice because I realize quickly that people are staring at us and I don't want to make a scene. "Because of what you did I was afraid to fall asleep at night, or even leave the house. I couldn't have people touch me without freaking out. I lost my boyfriend because of you."

"You're not with Andrew anymore?" she puts her sweet innocently confused and concerned face on. She completely by passed everything else I said.

"No. I'm not." I take a glance at the girls and see that they finally notice I'm here. Their faces dropping when they see I'm talking to Mona. "Because I couldn't get past my issues that _you_ made impossible for me to do." I look back to her.

"So you don't forgive me?" she asks, her eyes softening as if she actually cares and is normal.

"No." I simply say, a little scared I'm going to set her off. "I don't forgive you. And I'd like it if you left me alone, because we are not friends."

"Jessie." Emily is the first one to get to me, the other three still grabbing their things. "I didn't realize you were here."

I look at Mona, my heart is still racing but I try to keep myself from giving into my anxiety. Her expression is a little hurt, as if she seems to have some sympathy towards what she did. But honestly I'm not buying her act of being better. "Yea." I look back at her. "Yea I've been here for a bit."

"Sorry, Mona." She says as she grabs my arm. "I need to borrow Jessie." Then she drags me out the door of the coffee shop.


	24. Chapter 24

**Another chapter for you guys.**

 **Hope you enjoy and review.**

 **I do not take credit for PLL.**

 **Owned by Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

After school I tell Spencer I'd wait for her to get out of her Decathlon meeting so that we can hang out. Mr. Brooks has some things he needs to take care of today so I don't have practice. Aria heads over to Ezra's, Emily has Swim practice and Hanna is meeting up with Caleb. This is the first time in awhile that me and Spencer will actually be getting some hang out time on our own, so instead of opening the store I want to hang with her.

I walk over to the cafeteria to meet her and peek through the door. I don't want to disturb their meeting so I just want to see what's going on. It seems like they are voting on something as half of them have their hands in the air. When they put them down Spencer has an upset look and says something that I can't make out from over here. Then everyone starts to get up from their seats and leave. I take that as my cue to walk inside to catch up with her.

"Spence!" I yell when I walk in.

Whoever hadn't left the room yet turns my way. Besides Spencer (who's grabbing her books as she smiles at me) I see Andrew turn around too, totally forgot he's part of this club. Then to my surprise and terrified emotions, Mona is here. God I can't get a break can I?

Mona walks my way, half smiling a bit as she gets closer. I grip the strap to my backpack on my shoulder to keep myself busy enough not to react, but she doesn't say anything as she passes by me. I guess our talk from this morning helped but my stomach still hurts when I see her.

Once she is out of sight I look over to Spencer, who is in the middle of talking to Andrew. I debate for awhile whether to even bother going over to them. We are still on friendly terms during school but seeing each other outside of it is still a bit iffy, especially now that he knows I'm practically dating Blake. Somehow those two have managed to stay on good terms but I'm not sure if it's legit or not. Either way though I'm happy they aren't killing each other.

Finally I take a deep breath and walk over to them. When I get there Andrew is in the middle of saying, "So…put on your Hastings face and spank her tomorrow night like I know you can."

I stop in my tracks, "Do I want to know what that means?"

They both look down at me and smile. His dirty blond hair is longer than it used to be when we were together, but his piercing blue eyes still gets to me. He has the same lit up and soft look in them he always has whenever he sees me.

"Just giving Spencer here a talk about the challenge she is facing tomorrow."

"It was a good pep talk." She says.

"What's going on tomorrow?"

She looks at me, seeming a little ticked off about something. "Mona decided that she wanted to gun for captain of the team and since everyone voted dividedly I have to go against her in a quiz off."

"Wait…people actually voted for that lunatic?"

"Subtle, Jessie. Very subtle." Andrew says, laughing a bit.

I smile, blushing a little. "Well she is."

He nods, "I saw what she did to you. So I know." I half smile and he puts his hand on my shoulder, making my heart jump and my stomach gets butterflies. "You okay with her being back?"

I shake my head, "Not really, but there's nothing that can be done."

"I wish I could make you feel better."

 _Maybe if you hadn't been a dick and stopped making it seem like you don't still like me after all this time you wouldn't have to try_. Is what I wish I could say to him, but I can't. I need to move on and not go down this path again. Blake is now in my life and is treating me really great. Why ruin that for someone who claims to not want me as that type of person in his life anymore?

I half smile, "It's okay. I can handle it."

He nods, "I know you can." He takes his hand off me and then walks away.

I look at Spencer when he's out of sight, "I hate him."

She slightly smiles, "No you don't."

I sigh, "You're right."

"Always am." She smiles.

We walk out of the caf and she gets a text. As always we both jump a bit from it going off and she hesitates to look. Clearly she has every right to when I see her face turn to shock when she looks at it and stops in her tracks.

"What does it say?" I ask as I get closer to look.

"Quit while you're ahead Bitch. - _A_ " she whispers and looks at me.

I shake my head, "This is getting ridiculous."

She looks over my head and I turn around. Mona is at the vending machine just as she is starting to turn her head towards us. When she sees we are looking she smiles and waves. "If this wasn't sent by her then _A_ clearly is on her side." Spencer says.

"I'd like to give both Mona and this new _A_ a piece of my mind."

She looks down at me and smiles, "From what you told us you did a great job doing that today at the Brew. Composed yourself enough not to break down. I was very proud of you, and still am."

I smile, "It was an impulsive move that just sprang on me when she claimed we were still friends."

"Well whatever reason that set you off I'm glad you were able to. I was afraid we were going to have to keep you from trying to take off home."

I slightly smile, "Nah I'm good."

Instead of going straight home we decide to pay Toby a visit. He's seemed a bit distracted and distant ever since he got his new job in Bucks County last month that I barely see or talk to him anymore. I'm pretty excited to hang with him after so long that I get a great idea that will have us see each other more often.

"I have a proposal for you." I tell him as we sit on his couch, eating the Chinese food he decided to order for an early dinner because he has to work later on.

He looks up at me from the floor as he is picking up the rice he spilled when he accidently knocked over his plate from the table. "Oh yea?" he gets up and heads to the kitchen, "What's that?"

"I think I have enough money saved up to replace the moldy walls and ceilings for the apartment above the store." I take a sip of my Pepsi, "I was thinking that maybe you could help me with the repairs."

He walks back and sits next to Spencer, "Really?"

I nod, "Yea." I look around, "I mean, you fixed your place on your own. Why not take advantage of your clear geniusness of building and ask you?"

He laughs, "I'm very flattered, Jess."

"Could you? Please?" I give a puppy face.

He smiles, "I'll do it."

"Yea?"

He nods, "Of course."

I put my fist out towards him, "You're great."

He laughs and hits his fist against mine, "I try."

I smile, "And I'll pay you of course."

He shakes his head, "Not necessary. I'll do it for free."

"But that's a lot of work to do without getting something out of it."

"You're my friend. I don't need something out of it to help you."

I look at Spencer, "How did you get lucky to find this guy."

She laughs and looks at him, "It's a secret." Then she kisses him.

I can't help but smile at how cute they are. "You two are too much."

"We've been told." Toby says, a bright smile on his face.

The following night Spencer has her quiz off with Mona and to my shock loses to her. She asks me to meet her at the Brew because the team planned a celebration for Mona's win and wants the girls and me to go for support. I'm not sure if anyone else is but I debate forever whether to because it's one thing to run into Mona by accident or while at school, but it's another thing to do so on purpose. But eventually I suck it up and just decide to go after I'm done doing a few things at the store. To my surprise though Blake pops up to walk me home and I have to explain where I'm heading instead. I so did not plan to make things more awkward for me by having my ex-boyfriend and new boyfriend in the same area if they don't need to be.

Walking to the door Blake holds it open for me and I head inside. I look around for a few seconds to see if I spot Spencer, but instead I see Mona passing out cupcakes. Blake grabs my hand and I look up at him, his green eyes watching me with the same glow he always has when he lays eyes on me.

"Breathe okay? She doesn't have power over you."

I smile a bit, "Tell that to my anxiety."

He leans down and kisses me on the head, "Just relax and have a good time. Show her that you aren't affected by what happened. The more you conquer being around her and face that fear, the better you'll feel."

I smile and look over to where I see Spencer standing. She seems a little upset and I start to drag Blake over with me when Andrew walks to her first. I stop in my tracks and watch them talk for a few seconds. "What about conquering the fear of seeing him all the time?"

He slightly smiles down at me, "He's just a guy that you used to date. He's mine and your friend. You just need to stop thinking about it so much."

The look in his eyes has me know that he's worried I still have feelings for him, which I of course do. He clearly knows that a first love is not easy to get over and that he was getting into something with me knowing the possibility of not fully being able to move on right away. But I'm glad that he isn't reacting more badly, otherwise Andrew and him would have gotten into a fight long ago.

I turn back to Spencer and we walk over to her when I see that Andrew took off. "Hey." We both say.

She turns to us and smiles, "You made it." She looks up at Blake, "And brought a guest."

I laugh, "He surprised me at the last minute at the store, so he came with me."

She smiles, "Well Aria and Emily aren't coming. Hanna is picking me up though. I didn't know you were showing up but I honestly can't stand to look at her anymore." She motions her head over to Mona as she watches her.

I turn around and watch that lunatic act like she's all nice now, making everyone else fooled by her sweetness like she did to all of us for the last couple years. Then I turn back to her, "Yea, I know the feeling."

She shakes her head, "This is a nightmare." She looks back at me, "Go home. There's no need to stick around if I'm leaving. I don't want you to be in a room with Mona if you don't have to be."

"Always looking out for me." I smile.

"Of course. What are friends for?" she leans in and hugs me. "See you at school."

I had gotten dropped off at the store earlier by Aria. I planned on asking her to pick me up, but now since Blake offered to walk me back I don't need to bother her. Which is great because our walk is very nice. The slightly chilly wind blowing on us while we walk down the street, one of my arms around his back while his fingers are laced between mine with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. I'm still getting used to having someone like this in my life again, but I can't complain.

We get to the front of my house and he smiles down at me. "You look exhausted." He rubs his thumb on my cheek.

"I always look exhausted." I laugh.

"But you always look beautiful."

I start to blush, "Your lines are always smooth as hell."

He slightly smiles, "Lots of practice in my head."

I laugh and get on my tiptoes as he bends down to me. Our lips touch each other's and my heart skips a beat. I put my hand on the back of his neck to bring him closer and set my feet back flat on the ground. He puts one of his hands behind my back to pull me closer to him and the other on my hip. His light breathing on my face tickles, but I don't stop for a few more seconds.

We pull away and he looks at me with a smile, giving me one last quick tap kiss. "Goodnight."

"Night." Then I walk over to the house.

Once I walk inside I storm up the stairs in excitement to tell Aria about my nice night with Blake. But my excitement extinguishes very quickly when I walk into the room and see Meredith sitting on Aria's bed, which stops me in my tracks.

"Uh...hi?"

They both look at me and Meredith smiles, "Hello Jessie."

"Did I walk into the wrong house?" I try to ask this in a funny way, but yet I'm kind of serious because Aria is actually interacting with her.

She smiles and shakes her head. "No, no. Of course not. I was just giving Aria some tea, she caught the flu." She gets up and walks closer, "Your uncle is going to be out of town for a few days and I offered to take care of you and your cousins whenever your aunt can't."

I think of correcting her and saying that Aria and Mike aren't actually my cousins. I mean, I may consider their parents my aunt and uncle but their kids have always been more like siblings to me. However, I just go with it. "Oh." I say in confusion and shock at the same time. "Well Mike is staying at my aunt's place all week, so don't have to worry about him much." I try to put a believable smile, "But that's nice of you."

She nods, "I'd recommend not getting too close to Aria. You don't want her giving you the flu. Maybe sleep in your uncle's room or downstairs until she is feeling better."

I slowly nod, "I'll take that into consideration." I say nicely when I actually rather hit her, because she isn't my mom and isn't part of the family that she can tell me what to do. However, she is trying to make an effort to get on our good side after everything, so I'm not going to be rude.

She smiles and places her hand on my shoulder. It takes a lot not to pull away as I look up at her, her heels making her seem like a skyscraper next to me. "I'll see you in school tomorrow."

"Uh…yea, tomorrow."

"Thanks for the tea." Aria gets in.

She smiles and walks out of our room, closing the door behind us. For a few seconds I'm too stunned to turn around as I blankly watch the door.

Finally I do and look at her, "What the hell was that?"

"She found out that Harold was probably the one to set that fire. She wanted to apologize for pointing fingers at me and the girls." Aria looks tired and very pale as she sips from her tea.

"Is there more to it?"

She nods, "Yea, but it's a long story that I will explain tomorrow. I'm really tired."

I give her a sad look and walk to her. "Yea I remember that feeling." I grab her cup and set it on her nightstand. "Don't throw up on me okay?"

She smiles, "Wouldn't dream of it."

I tuck her in and then get dressed for bed myself. I can't wait to hear the story that Aria is going to tell me about Meredith.


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey everyone. Here's another chapter for you.**

 **I do not own or take credit for Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform own.**

 **Enjoy and please review!**

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"Ginger ale, and three seasons of Saved By the Bell." I hear Hanna's voice from the back of the house as I walk through the front door. I walk over to the stairs and drop my basketball stuff by the wall. Then I start to walk to them.

"Thank you, Hanna." Aria says after.

"Are you sure you want to stay here by yourself?" Spencer asks.

"Guys I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." Spencer adds.

"So I've heard. But I'm not going to be by myself."

"Then when will Jessie be home?"Emily asks just as I'm walking through the study, "She had a game today. Away games can take awhile, and you said Mike is at your mom's tonight. You shouldn't be home by yourself when you're sick."

"I'm right here." I say as I get into the family room. Aria is laying on the couch with Hanna sitting beside her. Em and Spencer are both on armchairs on each side of the couch.

They all look at me and smile. "How was the game?" Hanna asks.

I sit over on the armrest of the chair Spencer is sitting in. "We lost. Varsity is so much more brutal than JV was. This is our fifth game and lost all of them."

"That's because you are in the big leagues now." Emily says, "Losing is bound to happen more often since the teams are better."

"Yea I know. That's what Mr. Brooks keeps remind me and the other girls who moved up to this team." I look to my right and smile at Aria, "How you feeling?"

She nods, "Good." I give her a look, it's only the second day of her having the flu and she looks worse than I did from when I had it. "Okay fine." She adds. "I feel like I'm dying."

I nod and slightly smile, "Been there, done that."

She laughs. "Yea I know. I had to clean up your vomit whenever you didn't make it to the bathroom that first day you were sick."

I give a disgusted look and then an apologetic one. "My bad."

She smiles, "What are friends for?"

I laugh, "You sure you don't want me to stay home from school tomorrow?"

She shakes her head, "No, it's okay. You have practice and I don't want you skipping school and not being able to play your next game for missing it."

For maybe another hour or so the girls stick around. We watch some Saved By the Bell on the DVDs Hanna brought for Aria and then they leave. Aria ended up falling asleep on the sofa but I decide to leave her there. She looked so exhausted before she knocked out that I don't want to move her.

The next morning I wake up and realize I completely over slept. I totally forgot to charge my phone last night and now I'm going to be late for school. So I ninja jump out of bed and put my phone to charge right away. From there I rush over to the bathroom and then storm back into my room to head to the closet when I get out. I grab whatever I find first and throw it on, then grab my barely charged phone and rush downstairs. I head to the family room to check on Aria and see that she is still asleep then I go back towards the front of the house to get to my car. I stick my phone on my phone charger when I get in and head to school as fast as I can without speeding.

"Jessie!" Aunt Ella's voice comes to my ears just as I'm running past her classroom, she has first period free.

I almost trip when I skid to a stop and look back as she walks out. "I can't talk right now, Aunt Ella, I'm…"

"Late, yea I see that."

"My phone died last night. I forgot to charge it. I have to go."

"Come here."

"But…"

"I'll give you a late pass." Normally if someone's late you gotta go to the main office to get one, which is where I was heading to. But this is better.

I check the time on my phone as I follow her into her room. I'm fifteen minutes late. "My phone is only on thirty percent. Can I leave it in here to charge and I'll come get it during second or third period?"

She looks up from the pad she is writing the pass on, smiles and nods, "Sure. Plug it over there where no one can see it." She points to a wall where the plug is near some books that I can hide my phone behind.

I walk over, taking out my charger from my backpack and plug it in. I make sure it is on silent so she doesn't kill me for disturbing her class if I don't come to get it right away. Then I walk back to her.

"Here you go." She raises her hand to give me the pass. "Try not to be late again."

"I know. I'm sorry."

She smiles, "How's Aria?"

I shrug, "I honestly don't know. I was in a rush to get here, but she was sleeping when I left. She looked bad yesterday though."

"I'll call her later on to see how she is doing then. Maybe you can go see her during lunch? I don't think I'll have time."

I nod, "That's no problem. I'll let you know if I do."

Sadly, I don't have time to go see her at lunch. Meredith asked me to come to her room during that time to make up a test from being over twenty minutes late for her class. Since I can't make it after school because of basketball I don't have much of a choice. So I have to get lunch from the caf and then head to her classroom right after.

"Have you talked to Aria?" She asks me.

I look up from my desk, her blond hair is dangling down her face as she's writing something while at hers. "No, she isn't answering her phone."

"She's just probably still recovering from the flu and sleeping off whatever symptoms are left. She was feeling better when I checked on her earlier. I wouldn't worry."

 _Of course I'm worried_. I think to myself. _A could have done something to her for all I know_. However, I smile and nod. "Yea, maybe. Guess I'll have to make sure after practice."

She looks up and smiles, "If I have time I'll go check on her sometime after school. I'll give her the homework I have for her and take good care of her till you get home."

"Oh." I slightly smile, "That's nice of you."

Driving home from practice I feel in the pit of my stomach like something is seriously wrong. Normally when I get this feeling I'm right, but I can't think of what can go wrong besides maybe _A_ getting the girls involved in something. But I put it to the back of my head because I'm driving through a massive amount of wind, thunder and lightning as a storm is starting to come, so all I want to do is get home as fast as I can.

When I pull into the driveway I take my phone off the car charger and stuff it into my pocket. Then I grab my backpack from the passenger's seat and head into the house as lightning lights up the night sky. I look to the right when I close the door and see that Aria isn't on the couch anymore. So I assume she is upstairs and make my way to the front of the house.

"Jessie."

I look down the hall, realizing that Meredith is standing near the front door. "Oh, hey. Didn't know you were here."

She smiles and walks towards me, "Yea, I was just getting ready to leave. Don't want to get caught in this storm. Aria is knocked out upstairs."

"How is she feeling?" I stop in the middle of the hall when she gets to me and lean up against the wall.

"She's better. I gave her some tea and the warmth seemed to help her fall asleep."

I nod, "That's good." I smile, "Well thanks for your help."

She smiles, "No problem. Do you want some tea before I leave?"

I smile a bit, "Thanks, but I don't like tea."

She nods, "Then I'll see you at school."

"Yea, get home safe." I walk past her so I can get to the stairs.

"Jessie." I turn back to her, she seems to be debating something. "Before I go I need to ask you something."

I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable now because she seems to be really agitated as she shifts from leg to leg for a few seconds, "About what?"

She watches me for a second, then gets a little closer. "I'm assuming Aria told you about the pages she found about your uncle and Alison?" she says a little low as if she doesn't want anyone to hear, but there's no one else in the house besides us and Aria.

My heart sinks a bit, but I nod. "Yea…why?"

"Has she said what she plans on doing with them? We never got to discuss a game plan to figure this out since she got sick."

According to what Aria told me the other day Meredith found Uncle Byron snooping around in our room. Meredith got into some argument with him about not liking that he was invading our privacy and he got upset with her. She took off and ended up at the Grille where Aria followed her and they had a chat. Meredith pulled out the pages, saying that she got suspicious when she not only caught him in our room but he was looking through her purse thinking it was Aria's and found them in his room when she decided to see what he was up to. Aria and Meredith agreed to talk about what they should do about all this when Uncle Byron left for his conference. But since she got sick that hasn't happened.

I shake my head, "I've been pretty busy with basketball and working since she found out. I haven't had much time to really do more than homework and sleep. So haven't talked about it."

She slowly nods, but her face kind of gets weird looking. She looks like she is thinking but it hurts her to do so. "Why don't I believe you?" she slightly smiles, in a very demented way.

"Uhhh." I back up a bit, knowing that same look from Mona. "Okay. You need to go now."

She follows me, "Jessie. I need to know where those pages are."

I back up some more, "I don't know where they are."

"Don't lie to me." Her voice is low and scary sounding now.

I trip over my own feet and fall backward onto my elbows, but I don't stop as I continue to back up as much as I can. She has a very disgusting look on her face, like she is going to attack me. "Aria!"

"She can't hear you right now." She smiles creepily at me.

I quickly take off my backpack and toss it at her. Then I roll to the side and get up, but she grabs my arm before I can run and pulls. "Ow!"

She turns me around to her, realizing that we are around the same height and can see the scary look in her eyes more clearly. "Where are the pages, Jessie!" she has a very tight grip on my arm and it hurts.

"I don't know!" I try to pull away but she tightens up her fingers, "Let go of me!"

Her smile brightens wider than before, and the sound of thunder crashes through the house with lightning following. "I have a better idea." She raises her hand up and swings something that hits me on the side of my head, making me fall to the floor.

My vision goes dark for a second, but when it comes back I put my hand to my head and groan in pain. Then I hear footsteps and I'm just able to make out Meredith walking away towards the kitchen when I look at her. She's gone for a few second as I try my best to get up, but when I attempt it she walks back to me and my vision starts to daze out again. I feel her grab my legs and drags me across the floor, the ceiling of the hallway coming in and out of focus. When she stops she grabs my hands and lifts me to my feet, putting my arm around her as she helps me down what seem to be stairs. She sets me back down and leans me up against the wall. The floor is hard and cold and I try my best to focus to see where she took me. I notice something lying across from me on the ground when my vision comes back more but I can't make it out.

There's light coming from somewhere above me that makes me able to see the insane look on her face. "Open up." She says as she grabs my face to look at her and tries to force my mouth open.

"No." I say weakly and pull my head away from her.

She grabs my face again, more forcefully this time and stuffs something in my mouth. It tastes like some type of pill as she quickly gets water in my mouth and slaps her hand over it so that I can't spit anything out. "Swallow." She says angrily.

"Mmmm!" I shake my head, trying to get away from her.

"Do it!" she yells, sitting on my legs to keep them from kicking at her and then pinches her fingers to my nose. This is a tactic I've seen on shows that forces someone to swallow in order to get the person to let them breathe.

"Mmm!" I raise my hands to hers as soon as I notice what she is doing, trying to get her to let go. I'm in such a panic as my lungs beg for air that my arms become weak quickly and go back to my sides. I watch her crazy eyes for a few seconds, doing everything I can not to swallow what she gave me, but my vision is starting to fade from lack of air.

"Swallow it!" she yells again, this time in a mix of being mad and worried that I won't listen.

I toss my head aside, but it's no use. Her grip is too much to do anything more and I have no choice but to swallow the water, because I can feel myself choking from both the water and not getting any air.

She seems to know that I finally did what she said and lets go. "Was that so hard?"

I cough and gasp for air multiple times as my vision starts to come back. "You're…crazy." I get out in between a big breath.

She smiles, "No, just desperate." She gets up and heads to the stairs that has me realize I'm in the basement.

I cough again, "Mer…" My eyes start to dim out and I can feel panic go through me as my heart sinks. I know this feeling all too well, she drugged me. _Oh no. Not again_. My body is completely too weak to move as I watch her close the door from upstairs and the light that shined on me is gone.

I look around in panic, my eyes making contact again with what I saw earlier. I have just enough vision left to see the silhouette of what is on the other side of me. Then lightning comes for a second and brightens the whole basement.

My heart races as I see an unconscious… "Ria." Then I pass out.


	26. Chapter 26

**I do not own anything Pretty Little Liars related.**

 **All of it belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Let me know in a review what you think.**

 **Thanks!**

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I shouldn't be surprised that being around these girls crazy things keep happening. First Mona stalks them and kidnaps me. A new person takes over the stalking from Mona and unburies Alison's dead body in order to mess with them. Nate almost kills anyone who happened to be at the cabin that day for the sake of taking revenge on Emily. Aria almost got tossed out of moving train, and now Meredith is so obsessed with these pages from that stupid diary that she practically takes Aria hostage and then makes sure I'm out of the way for good measure. I think I really do need to get out of this town.

I'm not sure how long I'm out for, but however long it is I dream through it all. It's mixed between every good and bad thing that has happened in my life throughout the years. The car accident as always is the first nightmare to pop into my sleep, the look on my mom's face before the crash of the car flipping over will always haunt me. From there it changes to something nice, like when Andrew finally asked me to be his girlfriend. He had taken me to play mini golf and at the last hole he asked me. It was very simple, yet very cute. The day I ran into Aria again on the first day of school last year, the vacation trip we took with the Montgomery's to Florida before I moved to Jersey, and playing sports for Rosewood all come one after the other. Then it goes to the night Mona took me as she shoved me into the trunk, her demented eyes as she watched me lose my breath while having a panic attack. Even the spider when she placed it on my lap. Then of course this, seeing Aria lying motionless on the floor and I couldn't help her.

"Jessie?" A soft voice comes to my ears and a slight shake from a hand on my shoulder, "Jessie, please wake up."

I groan weakly and slowly start to open my eyes. "Oww."

"Oh thank God." The voice says.

My vision is a bit out of focus but I see a lamp that blinds me for a second by my feet, then I notice Emily sitting beside me. "Em."

She looks scared but she smiles a bit. "Are you okay?"

I move my head off of the shelf it's resting on and see I'm sitting next to it. "What happened?" I put my hand to my head as it throbs in pain.

"Careful." She says in concern, placing her hand gently on my face. "You've been out cold for awhile." She puts her other hand to my face, holding up my head for me. "Look at me for a second?" I look at her, blinking a few times to clear the black dots that swarm my view. "Can you seem me?" her voice is a little scared sounding. "Your eyes look unfocused."

I blink again, her face coming into view better. "Yea, I can see you." Then my heart races, "Meredith." I get out weakly, "She was looking for the..."

"Pages." I hear Aria say.

I look slightly to my left and see her sitting with Hanna on the steps. She looks terrified. "You're okay!" I'm so relieved to see her sitting there and not still laying on the floor looking dead that I lean towards her in excitement.

"Jessie." Em says, trying to keep my head still as she turns me back to her, "You need to relax, you may have hit your head."

I put my hands on hers and pull them off my face, "I didn't. Well, I mean, she hit me with something. But I'm fine."

"She's crazy." Aria gets in.

"What exactly happened?" Hanna asks.

"She wanted the pages from Ali's diary. She completely lost it when I wouldn't tell her where they were."

"Same with me." I look back to her, "She thought you told me where they were." I think for a second. "I pretty sure there was something in the tea she was giving you, because she had told me just before she asked about the pages that the tea put you to sleep when she gave it to you. Then she forced something down my throat when she realized I was still awake after that hit. Whatever she gave me had to be the same with you."

"She drugged you guys?" Hanna says, her mouth dropping.

"Definitely." Me and Aria both say at the same time and I look at her in confusion.

"How do you know?" Emily asks.

"She told me before she chased me out of my room." Aria says.

"And I remember the feeling from when Mona did it." I look down at my hands, "Same effect of slowly losing consciousness before the full effect of blacking out."

"It must have been the pills that she wanted to get from the pharmacy when we followed her." Hanna says.

"But they wouldn't give it to her because she needed a doctors okay to refill the bottle. So she grabbed something else she could get without a doctor." Emily adds and turns to me. "That must have been what she gave you."

I shake my head, "And I thought all we had to worry about was _A_. Not every psychopath in town." I try to get up but I fail, so Emily has to help me. For a second I feel dizzy as my vision goes away again, but then just as quickly it's back. "Thanks."

"Are you sure you're alright?"

I nod, "Em, I'm fine."

There are footsteps from upstairs and we all look up. The ceiling is losing dirty as the footsteps keep going back and forth in the same area. Emily walks over to the window in the basement that looks outside.

"What is she doing up there?" Aria asks.

Emily climbs onto something that allows her to get a better look out there. "If Spencer was here she'd say she was pacing while she plots her way to get rid of us." She looks back at us.

"Yea, and she'd probably be right." Hanna says.

I walk over towards the stairs and push a bit between Aria and Hanna. "What are you doing?" Aria asks.

I get by them and look down, "I'm breaking down the door."

"Jessie. Don't you think we already tried that?" Hanna says.

"If we all do it at once I'm sure we can get it open." I storm up the stairs. "And then we can take it from there."

"She's right." Em says. "There is four of us and one of her. Lets give her the pages and we'll take her down."

"Take her down?" Aria says in a scared voice.

"Yea." Hanna gets in, "I have no problem opening up a can of whoop ass on that woman."

My first instinct when I get to the top is to jiggle the knob. I obviously know that won't work but you never know. So I slam my side into the door and of course it doesn't open like they said. "I'm in." I say from the top step as I slam my arm into it again, "If it wasn't that she took me off guard I would have kicked her ass myself." I try again, "Guys, a little help?"

A bang comes from outside the door and scares the hell out of me, making me lose my footing for a second. I hear Aria yell my name in fear but luckily I manage to catch myself on the railing before I can topple down the stairs. "Knock it off!" Meredith's voice yells through the door.

"Let us out of here!" I yell back, banging on the door with my fist.

"If I have to open this door it will not end well for you, Jessie!"

"Then open it if you're so tough!"

"Jessie!" the girls yell from downstairs.

"Don't egg her on." Aria's voice comes and she sounds really scared.

I ignore her, "Your version of babysitting sucks!" I yell through the door. "Uncle Byron is not going to be happy about this!"

Silence from the other side as her footsteps walk away from the door. So I put a hand to the railings on either side of the staircase and give a big kick to the door, hoping that maybe that would leave some kind of difference. Sadly the door is tight shut even with that. So I head back down the steps, squeezing through them again and stand next to Em.

A weird sound comes from outside now, making us all look towards the window. Emily runs back over to it and gets back onto what she used before to see, then looks at us. "It's your dad."

Me and Aria both look at each other. "That's not possible." I say, looking back at Emily.

"He wasn't supposed to be home till tomorrow."

"S-She must have called him." Hanna says, now looking scared herself.

"Was he in on this?" Emily asks, jumping back down.

I look at Aria and she shrugs, shaking her head. "I don't know what I believe anymore."

I open and close my mouth a few times. "No." I shake my head. "Absolutely not. You're dad would not let that crazy woman do something like this to his own kid and someone he sees as his kid. He's not that stupid."

"I don't think you know him as well as you think, Jessie." Emily says as she walks over to a corner of the basement. "He could be just as crazy as her for all we know." she walks back over with a golf club in her hand.

"Em, what are you doing with that!" Hanna half screams.

"We don't know what they are planning."

"No, my dad would never hurt us." Aria says as I nod in agreement.

Hanna looks at both of us when we hear Uncle Byron's voice calling Aria's name. "Are you sure about that?" she picks something off the bottom of the steps.

"Jessie." His voice comes again from upstairs.

I look down at what Hanna has in her hand and see that it's a pipe. "You are not hitting my uncle, guys." I stand closer and try to grab the pipe from her.

She gives me a look and holds it up over her head, which makes me jump for a second out of an reaction I've never been able to get over since Mona. "Jessie, stop."

Now Aria jumps off the steps and grabs my arm when footsteps come to the door, dragging me to stand by the girls. "Aria, he's not going to do anything." I try to wrestle my arm out of her grip so that I can get to the top of the stairs and prove to them he is harmless.

"And what if he does? Are you going to risk him hurting you?" Emily asks as she turns off the lamp by our feet just as the basement door opens.

"Girls." He says down to us.

I start to move forward, "Unc…"

Aria reaches up and slaps her hand over my mouth, making me bend down from our height difference. Hanna grabs my other arm with her free hand to keep me from running off and they both pull me back towards them. "Stop." Aria whispers as she takes her hand off my mouth, both of them tightening their hands around my arms when I try to lunge forward. "Just see what happens."

"Are you okay?" his voice is right in front of us now and I turn to him. He is looking at all four of us, noticing the weapons in their hands. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I didn't hurt Alison."

He starts to tell us that he met with Alison that night to tell her he didn't have the money she asked for. That the conversation they had was him trying to plead with her on how hurt Aria would be if she told Aunt Ella. Then she gave him a few more threats about how she will and then he saw Melissa come out of the house. Then he went back home feeling he was out of options. The whole concept of Melissa somehow being there that night is kind of a crazy coincidence, but of course anything involving the night she died is no coincidence.

"I was prepared to tell your mom the truth and then Alison went missing. And the longer she stayed missing the harder it became for me to tell anyone." He gives us all a sad look, "Come upstairs okay? I'm calling the cops about Meredith. She left." Then he turns around and heads back up the steps.

They both loosen their grip on me and I pull my arms away once he gets to the top, "I told you." I say angrily as I stand in front of them. "You almost bashed his head in for nothing." I'm shaking a bit now.

"Jessie…" Aria starts, her voice cracking as she said it. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" I ask, "Of course I'm not okay, Meredith almost killed me."

"What do you mean?" Emily asks in concern.

"She almost suffocated me to death. She covered my nose and mouth to force me to swallow the pill she gave me before she locked us down here because I refused to do it when she asked me."

Their mouths drop, "Are you kidding me?" Hanna says.

"Are you surprised? She's completely insane." Then I look at Aria when I see her move forward a bit.

She looks like she is debating about something. "I'm sorry I covered your mouth when you went to call for dad." She gets out.

I look at her for a few seconds. Thinking about that makes me a little angry, but I don't raise my voice as I say in Spanish, "No vuelvas a poner sus manos sobre mi asi de nuevo." Then I turn to Hanna and translate to her in English. "Don't you ever put your hands on me like that again."

"Jessie I'm sorry." she says, "I was scared."

"Me too." Aria adds, tears in her eyes.

I take a deep breath, "Ever since what happened with Mona I don't like the feeling of being trapped. I especially don't like having something over my mouth to keep me from talking."

Aria walks closer and hugs me. "I'm sorry."

I start to shake again as she does, then straighten up after a second. I look at the other two and see the scared look in their eyes, "I can't look at you guys without seeing an image of one of you hitting him over the head with those."

"Jessie, it was a reaction to protect ourselves from danger." Emily says.

"You can't blame us from trying to do that after we found you and Aria unconscious down here."

I slowly nod, "I know." I turn towards the stairs, "I'm just glad it didn't come down to it." Then I head up the stairs, my legs feeling a bit like jelly.

When I get upstairs I head towards the main hallway to get to the stairs for the second floor. I notice that Uncle Byron is in the living room, just getting off the phone. "Jessie." I look at him. "Are you okay?"

I nod, "Yea, I just…she scared me."

He nods, "I know. I'm sorry."

"I believe you, you know? That you had nothing to do with Alison's death."

He slightly smiles, "Does Aria or the others?"

I shrug, "Not sure."

He gives me a weird look, "Are you sure you're alright? Did she hurt you?"

"I'm fine. Honest. Nothing I can't handle." It gets quiet. "I'm gonna go to bed."

"Let me know if you need anything."

I half smile, "Yea, of course."


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey everyone. Happy PLL Day! Here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **Enjoy and leave a review!**

 **Pretty Little Liars is not owned by me.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

"Spence!" I yell to her as I see her rush past me and down the hallway on my way back from the bathroom.

She turns to me, there's a look in her eyes that is not good. "What?" she says in a bit of an attitude.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just don't feel like being here."

I give her a confused look, "No one likes being here Spencer, but we have to do what…"

"Don't lecture me, okay Jessie?"

My face drops a bit, "Seriously, what's going on."

"It's none of your business." She turns around and walks away.

I watch her in shock as she walks down the hallway. She has never given me an attitude like that before. Not unless she's going through something, but even then she has never talked to me in that way. There is something really wrong with her right now.

When I get to lunch I see Hanna and Aria over at a table by themselves, so I walk over to it. I set my things next to Aria's. "What's up with Spencer?"

They both look at me confused. "What do you mean?" Hanna asks.

"I saw her in the hallway earlier and she was upset about something. I mean, she didn't say straight up what was wrong but she gave me a really unneeded attitude about not wanting to be in school and then took off."

"She has seemed a bit off all day." Hanna says.

Aria nods in agreement. "And this is the first time since she had her anniversary date with Toby on Wednesday that any of us have talked to her. She didn't answer anyone when she wasn't in school yesterday."

I nod, "That's true. She never even called to make sure we were okay after what happened with Meredith that night when we text her."

Em ends up coming around and sits next to Hanna on the other side of the table. "Hey, Em." I say and smile.

She looks over at me and smiles back. She opens her mouth as if she is going to say something, but then she looks over mine and Aria's head and her face turns to confusion. So out of curiosity I turn around, and so does Aria.

"What the hell is Ezra doing here?" I ask when I see him out the window in the courtyard.

She just shrugs and gets up. He walks inside the cafeteria at the same time and comes over to her. "Hey, what are you doing here?" she asks.

"Hey, Ezra." I smile.

He looks a little pissed, "Not now, Jessie."

"Uh…okay." I turn away to look at Hanna and Emily, who have the same confused look as me. He has never talked to me like that before. Something is up everyone's asses today.

"Ezra, that was rude." Aria says from behind me.

He ignores her though, "Can I see you for a moment."

"Not until you apologize to her."

"Aria, this is serious."

I hear her take a deep breath, "What's going on, is everything okay?"

He lowers his voice but I can still hear him. "Okay? I don't know, you tell me." He takes a deep breath, "Why was Spencer talking about Maggie?"

"What?" Aria says.

"She said that I have…that I have a son." My heart sinks. Then mine and the girl's faces drop at the same time, which makes it obvious that they are able to hear him too. "Why would she say that?"

"Why would Spencer tell him that Maggie had his kid?" I ask the girls, who both shrug at me. "Has she gone crazy?"

"No we are talking about this right now!" Ezra screams loud enough that people are turning to look at them.

"Ezra." Aria says calmly, "Please."

I watch him inhale and then turns to leave. Aria looks at us with a scared look and then takes off after him. We don't say another word to each other as we become nosy and watch them argue outside from the window. Then after a couple minutes he walks away and she stands there in what seems to be shock, until she digs into her purse and pulls out her phone. When she puts it down I can tell she looks like she's about to cry.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." I say to them.

"No." Hanna says and leans over to grab my hand before I get up. "Give her space. When she's ready she'll tell us what happened."

"But she looks really upset."

"Yea." Em says nodding, "But if you were going through this with someone you're dating would you want us to come to you this quickly, or would you want time to process before telling us?"

I look back at Aria from the window and watch her sit at one of the benches, wiping away what probably is tears. "I'd want my best friend by my side honestly."

Even though all I want to do is run to her and be her shoulder to cry on, they are right. Me and Aria are different when it comes to privacy and talking. She goes through something and needs a bit to figure it out before having someone shove their thoughts down her throat. Me, I like to have someone comfort me because I'm always a complete mess and that's the only way to calm me down. But out of knowing her well enough by now I give her the space she needs.

After practice I don't bother going to open up the store or heading home. I go straight to Spencer's. Something is seriously going on with her, and the fact that she went blabbing to Ezra about his kid when Aria hadn't even said anything yet is not like her at all. I want to know what is wrong and why she is so distant and moody today.

I head through her backyard and knock on her back door, looking through the window of it to see if she's there. She doesn't look like she's downstairs at all, so I call her phone. The first time it goes straight to voicemail and I'm sure it's because she's ignoring me. So I try again and it does the same thing.

"Spencer!" I hit the bottom of the door with my fist hard enough for her to hear it while I try calling her again. "Spencer I know you're home! Your car is here and your bike is right beside me!" I hang up and call her again, this time it rings.

Finally she answers the phone and I see her on the steps, staring at me. "Go away." Her voice comes from both inside and my ear at the same time.

"No." I say, "Absolutely not. Invite me in, or I'm just going to walk in. Because we all know that you never lock the door."

"Jessie. I'm not in the mood."

"I've notice. Which is why I'm here."

"But I don't want…"

I open the door and walk inside, hanging up the phone. I hate just walking into someone's house without permission but she isn't leaving me much choice. "Honestly, I don't care what you want. You had a bad attitude with me today and you told Ezra about his son without Aria knowing. What the hell has gotten into you?"

She starts to come down the stairs now and I walk closer. "I thought she told him and he got upset with her."

I raise my eyebrows, "Why would you think that?"

She hands me her phone, "Because I got a text from her during one of my classes and that's what she told me."

I grab the phone from her and read a text she got from Aria to myself, _Ezra freaked. He broke up with me. Can you meet me in the park?_ I look up from her phone. "But Aria didn't tell him. He came to the school furious with her for hearing it from you."

Her eyes tear up a bit and she walks to her sofa, sitting down. "Doesn't matter anymore."

I watch her for a few seconds as she sits there. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I spilled her secret and now it's over with. No point in over thinking."

Telling me not to over think of course makes me over think as I remember back to when I talked to Aria at school and she explained what happened with Ezra. That he was at the park and Spencer just came out of nowhere yelling at him for being mad at her after trying so hard not to hurt him about this secret. Then he took off from being upset.

I sit next to her, "I think _A_ somehow sent this to you as Aria. I mean, she told me that he told her you ambushed him at the park and clearly this text says to go and meet there. You got set up."

She gives me a look and I'm a little confused about it. It seems mixed between being fed up and holding back tears. "No offense, Jessie, but I think we need to stop thinking that everything is _A_ related."

I slant my eyebrow in confusion, " _We_ need to stop? I'm the one who is always trying to keep you guys out of trouble because you think every little thing is based off of _A_. The first time I actually put it out there you're shoving it aside?"

She stands up and walks to the door, "I'm just tired of putting all my efforts into something that is not going to go away. If we leave things alone and stop giving _A_ a reason to hold secrets over our heads then we'll be rid of him."

I get up from the sofa but I don't go farther than that as I watch her for a few seconds, "Him?"

Her face kind of goes pale for a second, her mouth dropping and then she quickly recovers. "Him, her, it. Honestly whatever." She opens the door, "I have stuff to do. Can you please leave?"

She doesn't really say this all that nicely, but I head to the door anyway. "I know there's something more going on here, Spence." I look at her when I get in front of her, "And I will find out what it is." Then I walk outside as she closes the door behind me.

I don't really feel like going home so I head to the store. I don't open it up though because I'm kind of not in the mood to deal with costumers, and being so exhausted from basketball and school I'm kind of cranky. Then that conversation with Spencer is kind of stuck in my head. She said _him_ , then freaked when I caught it. Does she know something we don't?

I park my car in front of the store and head to the door. I unlock it, walk inside and head to the back so I can go into the office. I need to order some new stuff for my inventory and I've had like no time for the past week in a half to do so, running very low on practically everything. So that is the first thing I do. After that I decide to do some homework, scattering everything on the sofa in the office and do what I need to.

I'm not sure how long I'm sitting here for, I have a lot more homework today than I did yesterday because I left projects due very soon till the last minute. So I'm just drawing a sketch of what I want to make for my next ceramics piece when I realize how late it is and decide to pack up.

Walking outside I see Aria speed past me. I don't think she even notices she did, because she just keeps going. I look at my car and see that hers is parked behind mine, so clearly she isn't here to see him. So she must be going to see…

"Hey." I hear her voice and turn my head. She is walking over to Ezra at his car. "I was just….I thought that we were meeting up at your apartment."

"No, we are. Uhh….I was just putting a few things in the car." He says to her and I notice that he has a suitcase and a bag in his hands.

"Can I just explain why…" I hear her start but Ezra interrupts her

This seems like a delicate situation so I take this as my cue to split. But I feel like she may need me after this and don't want to just leave her. So I get in my car and turn on the radio, raising it enough to block out their private conversation.

I'm probably sitting here for maybe two minutes at the most when I see her walk to the store and bang on the door. "Jessie!" I just hear her yell through the music as I notice she hasn't seen me in the car.

I lower the volume and put down the window, "Ria."

She turns to me, "Oh…" she walks over and hops in the front seat. "I didn't realize you were leaving." She has a bit of tears in her eyes when she looks at me, and her voice sounds like it's about to break.

I slowly nod, "I uh…." I debate whether to say I saw and heard them talking, but I go against it. So instead I ask, "You okay?"

She tries to smile and then shakes her head repeatedly, like she can't help herself. "No, Jessie." Now her voice breaks and tears slide down her face, looking away from me. "He went to go see Maggie, to meet his son, and I have no idea where our relationship is gonna go from here."

I lean in and grab her hand, she squeezes and looks at me. "Your relationship is going to be fine. He's just overwhelmed. He loves you."

A couple days later I'm at my locker before first period, thinking through the conversation about _A_ that I had with Spencer again. I can't get over it and she hasn't bothered to talk to me about it since, there's just something so off about the whole thing. We were having this talk as if she already knew who's behind it, like she wants us to stop looking into it. I feel like whoever it is she must have found out recently, she must know who this person is really well and that's why she is all of a sudden shutting down.

"We'll be rid of him." I whisper to myself, blankly staring at the inside of my locker. "Him."

"You okay, Jessie?"

I turn to the side and realize that Emily is standing at her locker, opening hers up as I close mine. Hoping she didn't hear me I say, "Yea…yea, I'm good. Just thinking about this test I have to take for Algebra. I'm so not ready for it."

She smiles, taking out books from her locker. "You don't give yourself enough credit for how smart you are."

"Me smart in math?" I laugh, "Yea. That'll be the day."

She smiles, "If you need help I'm sure Spencer will be able to do that."

I lean up against my locker, "Have you seen how she's been acting lately? She looks like she has completely checked out of school."

She nods, "More like checked out in general." She closes her locker and looks at me. "She had a meltdown at the Brew when Jason came to talk to us about Ali's remains being reburied."

My heart sinks, "Seriously?"

She nods, "It's going to be in an mausoleum this time, but he wants us to come and say goodbye to her since we were close. But Spencer just flipped out about not wanting anything to do with it because she's already said what she's needed to for all of this."

I raise my eyebrows, kind of shocked at her attitude towards one of her best friends. "I don't understand her."

Her face gets a little hesitant. "It's about Toby."

"What about him?"

"They…they broke up."

My eyebrows go up, "Oh shit."

She nods, "The others don't know yet. She wanted to keep it to herself for awhile. I'm going to run it by her later and see if she's okay with everyone knowing now."

I nod, "I won't say anything." Now I hesitate whether to say something about my talk with her, but she seems to see that I want to say something. "You think that's all it is? Or because she feels bad that she allowed _A_ to trick her into telling Ezra about his kid and now she's just fed up with everything." Is what I go with instead.

"It's probably both." She says, "It's not really like her to decide to check out on _A_ stuff, or anything really. She's always the one who wants to be the best and on top."

"Yea." I nod and get off my locker, "Everyone has their limits. Looks like Spencer has reached hers."

After school I have a dentist appointment and then gonna meet up with Aria. So I'm not able to go to practice today, which I'm a bit grateful for because I'm swamped with homework today. I really need to finish up my sketch for ceramics before starting the actually work.

When I'm done with the dentist I let Aria know and she tells me to meet her at Ezra's. This is of course weird because he's not here, but I don't argue as I drive over. When I get to his floor I knock on the door and she lets me in. I look around and see that it smells freshly cleaned, which probably means that Aria kept herself busy.

"So just hanging out here for the hell of it, or got a specific reason?" I ask as I put my backpack by the sofa and turn back to her.

She slightly smiles and sits over on his bed, she's so short that her legs dangle. "I just really miss him."

I nod and follow her lead, sitting beside her. I set one of my legs under the other and turn to her, my foot just tipping the ground. "I know, but he's not gonna be gone forever."

"Maybe not, but he didn't even tell me when he planned on coming home."

"Well, Ria, he just found out he has a kid. You don't go to see them and stay for a couple days just to come back. He's missed out on his life for years."

"I just wish he'd call me, or give more of a notice for when he will be back when he texts me. All he does is talk about them. I feel like I'm not on his mind anymore."

She's not looking at me, so I reach over and smooth her hair back behind her ear. "Hey." She turns to me, "His mind is occupied right now. It's normal that he's going to talk about them. But you know he's never going to keep you out of that head of his."

She slightly smiles and a jiggling of the knob comes from the door. We both turn to it and she gives me a weird look. "Maybe he's back?"

I shrug, "Maybe." More jiggling comes from the door. "I think you need to teach your boyfriend how to use a door. He seems to be having a hard time."

She half laughs and gets up. She opens the door and I hear a man's voice say hi, but it's not Ezra's. "Hi." She says in a bit of a high pitched/shocked voice.

"I uhh…" the guy says, "I didn't know anyone would be here. Is Ezra back?"

"No, he's not." She says as I get up from his bed and walk closer, leaning over the back of the sofa to get a better look at this guy. Whoever she's talking to clearly knows Ezra and I'd like to see who it is. "I was just checking on his place."

This averaged height, light skinned guy that looks around our age, is standing at the door with his backpack on his shoulder and looking a bit confused. He has dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and is really cute. Who in the world is this?

"Oh…"Aria says, standing to the side. "Come in, sorry."

"Thanks." He says as he walks past her and comes into the living room. "Hello." He smiles when he sees me, "Didn't realize someone else was here. I'm Wes."

"Fitz?" I ask in surprise as I raise my eyebrows. Seems like looks run in the family. "As in Ezra's brother?"

He smiles, "Fitzgerald actually, but yes."

I look at Aria, who gives me a look as I can feel my face blushing a bit. "Sorry. I'm, Jessie. Aria's best friend."

He reaches out his hand, "Nice to meet you."

I do the same and for a few seconds our eyes lock with each other and I can feel my face getting hot again. _Focus_. I think to myself, _You and Blake are together._

"So you know my brother?" he lets go of my hand.

I nod, "Yea. We're good friends."

"You met from Aria?"

I shake my head, "No, actually. Well…he saved my life from a car of a really bad accident."

His eyebrows go up, "He's told me about you."

I look at Aria from behind him a bit awkwardly, "He did?" I look back to him.

He nods, "He told me about what he did a couple summers ago and wasn't sure what to do about keeping in contact with you. He felt horrible about not doing so, especially when you ended up being part of his class and tried to get you to reach out."

I slightly smile, "Yea. I gave him a bit of a hard time with that for awhile."

He laughs, "I heard. But you seem to have gotten passed it."

"Wes." Aria says, making our conversation finish. "Is there a reason you're here if he's not?"

"Oh...right." he turns to her, "Ezra told me I could use his apartment while he was away."

"You knew that he was gone?"

"Yea. He called on his way to Delaware. He was a little vague on how he found out about Maggie and Malcolm."

"It wasn't vague it was messy."

"I'm gonna go use the bathroom." I tell them, feeling a little awkward now.

They both half smile at me as I walk away. I don't really have to use the bathroom as I sit on the edge of the toilet, looking through Facebook for a few minutes and then walk back out. Aria has her purse around her shoulder and Wes is telling her that he would like it she could come by to water the plants because he isn't very good at keeping them alive. She agrees and we head to the door as I grab my backpack.

"It was finally nice to meet the girl Ezra saved." He says to me.

I turn back to him and smile, "Well it was really nice to meet the brother of the guy who saved my life. Wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him."

He smiles, "See you around."

I nod, "Yea. Sure."


	28. Chapter 28

**I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Enjoy and please review.**

* * *

Spencer has barely left her house more than to just go to school since she stormed out of school and dropped that bomb on Ezra. She hasn't done much with her club activities either, which is also not like her. I wish I could do something to help her but she won't let anyone help. She won't let anyone in her house, not answering phone calls or texts, nothing. I know her and Toby breaking up is a toll on her, but it totally came out of nowhere. I mean, even he hasn't been getting back to me. They were attached to the hip, they had their fights but I can't think what would make them split up. There has to be something more to their break up but since neither of them are reaching out I can't pinpoint it.

"Hey, Mona." I hear Spencer's voice when I walk into the courtyard after school to meet with Blake. "Is there anything else you want to take from me?" She's standing by a table where the decathlon team is, staring Mona down for a few seconds and then takes off.

"Spencer." I say as she passes by me, kind of bumping me on the way. "Spence!" she ignores me and continues to walk away.

"Jessie." I turn around and see Andrew walking over. "You okay?"

"Yea. Yea I'm fine." I rub my shoulder where she bumped me. "What was that about?"

"She hasn't been coming to decathlon practice so we had to kick her off the team."

I raise my eyebrows, "You kicked her off the team?"

"Don't give me that look, Jessie. We didn't have a choice. She's not involved anymore."

"Maybe, but she's a better person than Mona. Yet she's still on it."

"It was out of my hands. We had to vote on it and more people were for it rather than against."

"Fine."

"Is she okay though? She's been a bit off."

I shrug, "I honestly couldn't tell you. She's been a bit distant from everyone lately." I look behind him and see Blake looking over from a table by himself. I told him I'd give him my notes for history because we have the same teacher and he missed yesterday's class from being sick. "I gotta go. I'll see you around."

He slightly smiles, "Sure."

I go over to Blake and give him a kiss as he grabs me and puts me on his lap, kissing me more. I laugh and have to wrestle away from him because I'm going to be late for practice. I dig into my backpack and give him my notebook, then turn to go. Once again he grabs me and brings me back towards him.

"Don't go."

I smile a bit, "I'm sorry but I have to." I reluctantly let go of his hands, "I'm going to be late and you know varsity is no joke." I start to turn away again but he grabs onto my wrist a bit tight and I look down at him. "Ow. That hurts."

"You know Andrew looks like he's trying to get to you."

I give him a weird look, "What?"

"I saw how he was looking at you."

"Blake, relax. He was asking me about Spencer's behavior."

His face gets dark looking, "Don't tell me to relax."

"I uh…okay?" I get my wrist out of his grip and rub it a bit. "I'll call you later." Then I turn around and bolt out of the courtyard and down the hall to the locker room. What was his problem?

After practice I get a text from Emily, asking if I want to go with her to see Spencer. She told her that she'd pass by later but thinks that I should come with her because I give really good advice. I think she does too, but she insists and pleads with me so I give in.

"Fine. Can you come pick me up from the school?"

When we get to Spencer's house we pull up in front. I grab my backpack from the backseat, figuring she could help me with Algebra and keep her mind off of everything else. Then I follow Em to her gate and into the backyard. She has three cupcakes in her hands from the Brew, one for each of us. She thought it would cheer Spencer up.

"You sure she'll let us in?" I ask.

"I told her I was passing by. But I'm not sure of anything with her these days."

We get to the backdoor and Emily knocks. For a second I think I'm going to have to call her or barge inside like I did last time, but a few seconds later she shockingly opens the door for us. When the door opens Em walks in and I'm about to go in behind her when she turns to me in fear.

"What?"

"He's…she's…uh…"

"Em, spit it out." She's too speechless to say anything so I walk in even though she is blocking me and my mouth drops as I stop in my tracks. "What…"

Andrew is standing at Spencer's couch by the fireplace, gathering up his clothes from the floor because he is only in his boxer briefs. "Jessie!" his eyes bug out when he sees me. "This…this isn't what it looks like."

I try to hold back my urge to completely break down right now as Emily is holding onto me. Either because she thinks I'm gonna go after him or because she feels that I may collapse without her help. "Oh it's not?" I ask, "I'm not seeing my ex-boyfriend practically naked in one of my best friend's house?"

"Uhh…okay, it is what it looks like." He starts to put his pants on, "But it's not what you think…."

I shrug and laugh a bit, shaking my head. "You know what? I don't care. Just leave."

"Jessie."

"Andrew, if you don't leave right now I'm going to do something I regret. And I rather not."

"Right…" he doesn't bother to put his other clothing on as he storms past us and walks out the door.

I watch the spot he was standing at for about five seconds. Then I pull my arm away from Emily, who has a mix of being worried and pissed as I walk inside more enough to turn to Spencer. She is fully clothed, so not only am I confused on why he had his clothes off but I'm obviously pissed at her too. "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" she asks as if it's nothing to be worried about and walks over to the couch to grab her sock that I realize is on the floor. "I was just trying to get my spot on the team back." She sits down.

"By taking your clothes off?"

"Jessie, relax. It wasn't anything that would lead anywhere."

I blink quickly in disbelief, "Did you just tell me to relax?" My blood is boiling now and my eyes flame in anger. "Are you freaking kidding me!"

"Why are you mad?"

"Why am I…are you seriously asking me that question?" I look at Em, who seems totally speechless. "He had nothing but his underwear on." I notice something on the armrest of the couch and my eyes flame in anger. "You took off your bra!" I point to it beside her. "Does that look like not leading anywhere!"

The look on her face doesn't even seem anywhere near guilty or sympathetic as she should be right now. She looks so pleased with herself and so twisted looking that it doesn't seem to even phase her. This break up completely screw her up.

"You guys broke up. Why do you care?" the fact that she doesn't seem to understand what she's done pisses me off.

My fist clench in anger and my eyes start to tear up so bad that they slip down my face before I can stop them. "I can't believe you just said that." I storm to the door, turning to her again. "I get that you're going through a lot right now, but you had no right doing that!" Then I slam the door behind me as I walk out.

I walk home so pissed off that I don't even remember the walk. As soon as I get home I head upstairs and slam the door behind me, getting under my covers and scream in my pillow. I can't believe she did that. One of my best friends from childhood and she acted as if taking off her clothes with my ex-boyfriend for a spot on the team was a good idea. Then plays it off like it was nothing? What is wrong with her.

I never leave the house and just cry the whole time till I finally fall asleep. My dreams are filled of the usual car accident, Mona, dead Garrett and crazy Meredith. I don't wake up again until I hear voices in the room. They're whispered voices so I can't really make out what they are saying.

I'm still under the covers, so I poke my head out and see Aria and Wes. He's about to walk out of the room. "What are you doing?" I say hoarsely.

They both turn to me, jumping a bit when they do. "Jessie." She says.

"Sorry. Did we wake you?" he asks me.

"Yea." I turn back to the wall.

I hear footsteps, "Are you okay?" Aria asks, "You look sick."

I take a breath, "To my stomach actually."

"Want me to make you some soup."

I shake my head, "I'm not really hungry."

"Have you even eaten?"

"Just lunch."

"You haven't eaten since lunch?"

"It's been a long day." My voice changes to a monotone when I say this and now she gets quiet. I know that she knows there's more going on. She knows me well enough to tell when I'm not okay.

"I'll be glad to make that soup for you, Jessie." Wes says.

This actually makes me turn around, because now I'm starting to wonder why he's even here. Aria and him are standing by my bed. "Thanks, but I couldn't ask you to do that."

He smiles, "It's not a problem at all." He has a pillow and blankets in his hands, so now that really confuses me. "I'm gonna go and make you some." Then he leaves.

She looks at me and smiles a bit, "His mom found him hanging in Ezra's place and it spooked him off. So I told him to spend the night here."

"Why?"

"His mom is kind of crazy and he rather keep moving around than staying where she can find him."

I slowly nod, "Oh." Then I turn back to the wall.

She sits on my bed now and puts her hand on my arm, "What happened?"

"Nothing. I just don't feel good."

"Jessie, I've known you since we were three. I know the difference between you being sick and being upset."

I take a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears. "I found Andrew almost fully naked in Spencer's house today."

It gets really quiet, "You…he….what?"

"She claims that she was trying to get back on the decathlon team. I don't know what that meant, but she played it off like it was no big deal that she had her friend's ex-boyfriend taking off his clothes in front of her." I take a big breath and feel tears slide down my face, "She was taking bits of her clothes off too. Her shirt was on, but her bra wasn't."

"But…she wouldn't do that to you."

"Well she did." I sniff and roll onto my back to look at her, my eyes full of tears that I can barely see her. "She didn't even care."

"Something is really going on with her."

"I don't care. She went too far."

We sit in silence for about three minutes, then Wes walks back in. "Here you go, Jessie." I look at him holding a plate of soup as he walks over to my bed.

I wipe my tears as fast as I can and sit up, taking it from him and smile. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

He smiles back, "It's no problem." He gives me a concerned look, "You okay? You're eyes are very red."

"Oh…yea. My eyes have been bothering me all day, probably rubbed them too much."

He slowly nods, "Right." He looks at both of us and awkwardly smiles, "So I'm going to head to bed. See you guys in the morning."

I eat my soup without talking and then want nothing more than to go to bed. I don't want to talk about it anymore and Aria doesn't push me into doing so as she watches me. Then she grabs the plate and heads downstairs when I'm done. When she gets back she sees that I'm blankly staring at her bed.

She walks over and sits next to me, stretching her legs out and looks down at me. "You sure you don't want to talk?"

I move closer to her, resting my head on her legs. "No. I just…I can't deal with it right now."

"You still love him don't you."

I nod, "Always will."

She leans in and kisses me on the head. "I'm sorry."

I close my eyes to her touch as she rubs my hair, making me fall asleep instantly.


	29. Chapter 29

**Pretty Little Liars belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **I do not take credit for it.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**

* * *

The next morning I skip the Brew with the girls and just stay home until I feel like leaving. I'm so not up to seeing Spencer, which isn't going to last long considering I have four periods with her and sit behind her in one of them. Luckily though, she seems to have skipped school. I don't see her in history class, she never shows up for English, and isn't here for lunch. So it's safe to say that she won't be at gym either.

During lunch I sit at our table with my head on my fist, playing around with my food. I'm at the table by myself with the other girls since Kyle and Blake are at another table with their soccer buddies. I feel a little bad being jealous of the situation from yesterday when I'm with Blake, but I can't help it. Plus I'm a little pissed off at him for grabbing me the way he did after talking with Andrew before practice, so I rather him be cooled off from whatever made him like that. Then obviously Spencer is MIA (not that I'd be here if she wasn't) and Luna is sick.

I decide to look up at one point and see Andrew walk in. He looks like he wants to come and talk to me, but he seems to know better than to try and explain himself when I'm in this mindset. So instead he just leaves me alone and goes to sit with his other friends. It's going to be interesting seeing him for ceramics today.

"Earth to Jessie." A hand waves in front of me, barely getting my attention as I shift my eyes away from where I'm looking and see Hanna pull her hand away from beside me.

I lift my head, "What?"

"I asked if you're okay."

Emily and Aria both give me a look from across the table. None of us mentioned what me and Em saw yesterday afternoon to her. Mostly because I'm embarrassed for feeling jealous since I'm not with him anymore. Then they didn't want to put my personal business out there unless I told them to. Considering that she looks super concerned I think I should.

"Not really."

"What's going on?"

It takes me a minute to get my brain to catch up with what I actually want to say as it scrambles around. Finally getting the words straight in my head I take a breath and start to tell her what happened. "After practice yesterday Em came to pick me up so we could talk to Spencer." I look back to my food, "When she let us in someone else was there."

"Who?"

I look up at her again, "Andrew."

"Well they are friends." She says confused.

I shake my head, "He was only in his underwear and she didn't have a bra on under her t-shirt."

Her mouth drops, "Wait…what?"

"Please don't make me repeat that."

Her face seems to go pale, "So you're saying that they were doing stuff?"

I shrug, "She claimed that they weren't and that it had something to do with getting her spot on the decathlon team back." I twist my spoon in my hands, breaking the plastic in half. Aria reaches out to grab it away from me so I don't cut myself with it. "I don't know what taking their clothes off had to do with anything."

"Did she explain?"

"Would you give someone time to explain after seeing your ex basically naked in one of your best friend's houses?"

She looks at all of us in turn, seeming not to know how to answer at first. "I guess not." She looks back to me.

"Exactly."

"But…" She gives me a sad look, "I think you should have given her the chance to."

I watch her for a second, "Well considering that she didn't have a very good attitude about it and played it off like it was no big deal or didn't care I wasn't really in the mood."

She shakes her head, "What is going on with her?"

"She lost Toby." Emily says.

"Don't give her the benefit of losing her boyfriend as an excuse for doing what she did." I say, getting a little heated now. "She's acting out because of him and needs to be straightened out."

I know I shouldn't be so mad about what happened since I'm not with Andrew anymore, but the fact that Spencer did that just to get back onto a team and took advantage of the situation is messed up. Not to mention not giving a shit that it may have been a slap in the face to me.

"Then you need to talk to her about it." Hanna tells me.

I shake my head, "Absolutely not."

"Jessie."

"No. I don't want to be anywhere near her if I don't have to."

"What about _A_ stuff?" Emily whispers to me.

I look at her for a second, then shift my eyes back to my food. "We'll see."

Andrew doesn't dare to sit with me and Blake today at ceramics. He sits at another table but Blake doesn't think anything of it because Andrew tends to change tables whenever he feels like sitting with his other friends. So I play if off as if that's what's going on. Blake starts the convo by telling me that he is getting jealous of Andrew being super friendly with me again since the Nate thing and that's why he was upset yesterday. Then he apologizes for grabbing me the way he did and explains that his jealousy kicked in and he over reacted. I forgive him, telling him that he has nothing to worry about with Andrew. Then we go about the rest of our class. I think if Andrew doesn't sit with us anymore Blake is going to be thrilled about it.

After school I tell Mr. Brooks that I haven't been feeling the greatest all day. Which is technically not a lie, I have been feeling shitty since I woke up. It's just not from being physically sick of course, but he knows I don't get sick often and he rather me rest up than overdoing it at practice and not being well enough for the next game. So he allows me to miss practice and I feel bad lying to him, but I'm not up to basketball today and I rather not let the team down by not having my head in it. Plus this gives me plenty of time to catch up with some homework.

The following morning Aria practically drags me off with her before school to Ezra's to do her routine checkup of his place. But when we walk through the door someone is over by his bed, and it certainly isn't Wes. He had snuck out of the house during the night he slept over and didn't tell us where he went. She was just in the middle of calling him, trying to get him to call her back when she notices who it is.

"Ezra." Aria says in shock as she had walked inside first, making me almost drop my phone in surprise.

"Hey." He smiles as he's folding clothes.

"When did you get back?" She asks.

"Three this morning." He looks back at the clothes he's folding. "I crashed as soon as I got in. Just woke up." He looks at us, "Haven't been sleeping much for the past few weeks."

"Yea. Me neither." She says.

I look at both of them, feeling a little awkward and in the way. "I think I'm gonna go wait in the hall."

"No, Jessie that's okay" Ezra says.

I look at Aria, then back to him. "No. You two need privacy."

"Jessie, really." He says again. "It's no problem. You're practically family."

"Then I'm a little confused on why you never called me on one of those sleepless nights." Aria says out of nowhere and then looks at me, "Or her." she looks back to him, "If she's family because of you dating me."

I back up to the door, "Yea…yea Ima go now. This is not my place to be here. Welcome back, Ezra." Then I bolt out the apartment before they can convince me to stay, grabbing my headphones from my backpack and slapping them over my ears to make sure I don't hear them.

Now when I have my free period I decide to head over to talk to Aunt Ella about the test I'm almost positive I failed the day before. I find her coming out of the teacher's room before I can get any farther down the hall. Then she has me walk with her and when we get into her classroom Spencer is sitting at one of the desk with her head resting on it.

"Spencer." Aunt Ella says as she walks to her desk.

I had stopped in my tracks when I saw her so I don't bother following. Then Spencer looks up and is about to say something to her when she sees me and makes eye contact. "I'm gonna go." I say, "I'll see you later, Aunt Ella." Then I take off.

Spencer hasn't bothered to apologize or reach out to me to talk since it happened. I mean, even if she does I guess I wouldn't give her the chance to anyway because the way she handle the situation was fucked up, like she didn't care about our friendship. We have classes together but she didn't talk to me when she came to school today and I didn't talk to her, because I know I may explode on her and I really don't want to do that.

The rest of the day isn't too bad. Andrew sat at a different table for ceramics again, so I don't have to worry about looking at him. All of my emotions of feeling guilty for being an ass to him and Spencer, jealous that he did that with her when I shouldn't be, and then feeling pissed off at them at the same time is just too much to handle right now. I don't know which feeling to feel but they all are coursing through me at once and it's just too confusing.

After practice I go to work. While in the middle of inventory processing I get a call from Aria. She is talking so fast that I can't make out what she is saying at first, so I have her repeat herself. "I know that things with you and Spencer are iffy, but she needs us all at her house right now."

I'm quiet for a second, "Are you nuts?"

"Jessie. This is _A_ related."

"What is she going to do now? Blame someone else for being _A_?" I say a little pissed, "Maybe Andrew for example to get on my good side on an excuse for doing what she did."

"Jessie, stop. Okay? She is serious this time."

"She's always serious this time, Aria! And each time she has been seriously wrong."

" _A_ almost killed her."

My heart sinks, "What?"

"She got locked in the steam shower. The setting was getting over 120 degrees hot. She could have suffocated if I hadn't got here when I did." I hear her take a deep breath and then she says, "Come over, okay? She is your friend and you are not going to let her go what she is going through by herself."

Now I take a deep breath, "She isn't going through it by herself first of all. Clearly she has you guys." I say this calmly, I don't want to start a fight. "Second of all, if she was my friend she would have felt bad and apologized. I can deal with the fact that she did what she did because I'm no longer with him and happy with someone else, but what I can't deal with is the way she played it off as if I made a big deal and like she didn't care."

"I get it. I do. But please just come here and see what she needs? How do you know she won't come to you in the process."

I'm quiet for a few seconds, "Okay. Her information with _A_ may be useful, but if I don't hear the words _I'm sorry_ come out of her mouth at some point then I'm leaving."

"Fair enough."

When I get to her house Emily is just getting out of her car. I turn off my car and get out as she looks at me in a bit of shock that I'm here. However, she doesn't seem to care on why I'm here, just that she's happy I decided to show up after what happened the other day. So I follower her into Spencer's backyard and through the backdoor, heading up the stairs as fast as we can and walk into her room.

"God." Emily says when she walks inside. "Are you alright?"

I don't go inside because I'm kind of scared to. Neither of us has talked to the other in a couple days and I don't know how to react about being here. So I just stand in the frame of the door, watching them talk.

"Yea." Spencer says as Em hugs her.

"Thank God Aria got here when she did." She lets go, "Where's Hanna?"

"I don't know." Aria says, "She won't answer any of my texts or phone calls." She turns and looks up at Em, "Jessie is supposed to be here but…"

"She's right there." Em says as she turns to point to me at the door.

Aria and Spencer both turn to me, my face probably making it noticeable that I feel uncomfortable. I don't really know what to say and Spencer looks away from me. It is silent for so long that Emily walks over to me and grabs my hand, forcing me inside.

"Okay. I've had it." She has me stand between her and Aria, then looks at Spencer. "Talk to her."

Spencer looks up at me from her bed and for a few seconds neither of us say anything until she breaks the silence with, "Hey." In a bit of a low voice.

"Hi." I say back, not at all enthusiastic.

It gets quiet again and Emily looks at both of us, waiting for more, "That's not what I meant."

Me and Spencer look at each other silently for a few seconds. My anger towards her kind of goes away, because the sad and scared look in her eyes is a bit heartbreaking to see. Something happened to her when they broke up and I let this get between us instead of being there to help.

Then she takes me off guard by getting up and flinging her arms around me, "I'm so sorry, Jessie."

I almost get knocked over from her practically tackling me and try to keep my balance. "Easy, Spence."

She lets go and looks down at me, "I know what I did was uncalled for. I over reacted by making it seem like you were the one who over reacted. I mean, walking into a friend's house and seeing an ex in that way is enough to make anyone upset. And I so did not help by saying the things I did."

I look at the other two and see that they are giving me the look to not let my temper get the better of me. "It's okay." I look up at her, "I know you're going through a lot."

She slightly smiles and drags me over to sit next to her. She looks at all of us a bit scared. Then Em says, "So who is it? Who is helping Mona."

Spencer looks at us for a second, seeming to debate something. "Maybe we should wait for Hanna."

"No, this is too important to wait." Aria says.

She takes a breath, "Okay, but you guys need to know that I've been warned not to tell you."

Aria shrugs and shakes her head, "Well what else is new."

"Tell us Spence. We can handle it."

"Wait a minute." Emily gets in and makes us look at her. "You knew who it was before tonight?"

Spencer slowly nods, "Yea. I've known for a awhile."

"I knew it."

"Why didn't you tell us any sooner?" Aria says at the same time as me and then looks at me in confusion. "What?"

I shake my head, "The day she told Ezra about Malcolm I came to talk to her. She accidently slipped up and said that if we stop giving _A_ things to hold over our heads that we'd be rid of him." I look at Spencer, "You said _him_."

"And you're only telling us this now?" Emily says.

"I didn't want to start anything till I knew if she actually knew. I mean, she tried to clear it up by adding that _Him, Her, It, Whatever,_ saying you guys always do that I didn't want to bring it up at the time. Then I kind of just forgot about it."

"And I wanted to be sure." Spencer has tears in her eyes now when we look at her, "I didn't want to believe that it could be true but…" she takes a breath, "After tonight happened I can't keep this to myself anymore." She watches all of us for a second, shifting her eyes to Aria and takes a deep breath. "Toby is _A_."

My mouth slowly drops in shock as Spencer's eyes water. I look at the others and see that Emily has a confused look as her mouth drops, and Aria's eyes kind of pop out while hers starts to drop too. There is no way that Spencer just told us that Toby Cavanaugh is working with what everyone is sure is Mona. Like…what? The sweet guy I've been best friends with since last school year is part of the _A_ team? How could that happen…why would that happen? Why would he betray his girlfriend like that. Was he always part of this and just covered his ass once Mona went to Radley, or did he do this more recently. There has to be more to it, because…it's Toby. I refuse to think he did this on purpose.

I half laugh, because that has to be a joke, "W-what?" I shake my head, "No, that's insane."

She doesn't say anything as she looks down at her hands and for awhile we are just in the quiet from disbelief of this news. Then they start to talk for a bit while I just sit here and listen. A few times I daze out, because I cannot wrap my mind around this. But then I start to think about times that he ignored my calls and texts for hours when he's always been pretty good at answering me when not at work. The few times he canceled when he was supposed to be helping me with the apartment from the store at the last minute (which is only halfway finished). Then the fact that I haven't heard a peep out of him since they broke up makes it all start to make more sense. But it doesn't help to process it.

"The Toby I know would never do this." I hear Emily say when I check back in again.

I look up from my hands as Spencer starts to laugh hysterically. "Why are you laughing? This is not a joke."

"What's so funny?" Emily asks.

"You." She says, watching Emily. "You trying to make sense of this. You need to stop thinking about Toby as the person you thought you knew and start looking at him for who he really is."

"And how do I do that?" Emily asks angrily.

"You look at the facts, Emily!"

"Okay." Aria gets in, "Which are?"

"Mona is with the decathlon team in New York City. She couldn't have locked me in the steam room." She looks at Em, "And that leaves Toby."

Em just shakes her head, like she doesn't want to believe it. That's when I stand up and pace the room. "Are you sure it's him?"

She looks at me, "Yes Jessie. I told you already. I saw his fake ID for Radley in his apartment when I was setting up for our anniversary. So I went home to wait for him to get the key he dropped when Hanna got attacked at her fake interview planned by the _A_ team. I saw his face when he turned around. He looked right at me in that black hoodie. I'm not going to mistake my own boyfriend."

"There has to be more to it, Spence."

She looks at all of us, "The quicker you wrap your mind around this the better!" She half yells in anger. She looks away, tears sliding down her face.

I look at the other two, Emily looks on the verge of tears herself. Then Aria just looks like she doesn't know how to react. In all honesty, neither do I. What is happening to our friends?


	30. Chapter 30

**Hey Liars! Happy PLL day!**

 **Here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review!**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

" _I need you ASAP_." I read Aria's text to me a couple days later as I sit on my bed doing homework, which makes my heart sink. That's never a good thing.

"What's wrong?" I type back.

" _I'll show you when you get here. Come to Ezra's_."

When I get to Ezra's her ASAP turns out to be helping her babysit. And I mean babysitting Ezra's son to be more specific. Yea…talk about awkward. Maggie got thrown out of her place in Delaware because his mom got all psycho when Ezra stood up to her the day he came back to town. His mom had the apartment Maggie lived in under her name and now kicked them out. Aria is right, his mom is crazy.

"You couldn't tell me on the phone that I was going to help with this?" We are sitting on the sofa, waiting for his kid to get out of the bathroom. "I mean, I'm only meeting him for the first time. No pressure."

"I didn't want to spook you."

"Aria, it may be weird but I wouldn't want you to babysit your boyfriend's kid on your own if you aren't comfortable with it. But I could have used a heads up." I think about this for a second, "Did that sound just as weird as it felt saying your boyfriend's kid?"

She smiles, "Yea." She laughs, "But thanks."

I nod, "Of course. But I am meeting up with Spencer in like an hour. She needs me to help her with something." Something as in following Mona around, but I was sworn to secrecy so I'm not telling her more than that.

She nods, "No problem. I'm thinking of taking him over to the park later on anyway. So I got it once you leave."

The bathroom door opens and this little kid with brown hair, brown eyes and light skin walks out. It's so weird to see a little Ezra Fitz here.

"Malcolm." Aria says, "I want to introduce you to my best friend."

He walks over and sits down by his train set on the coffee table. He stares at me with his big brown seven year old eyes and I smile. "Hi, Malcolm. I'm Jessie."

He smiles, "Are you friends with Ezra too?" he looks down at the train.

I look at her a bit confused and she whispers in my ear, "He's not used to calling Ezra his dad yet."

"Yea." I say when I look back at him, "Yea, Ezra is a really good friend of mine."

For about an hour we play with him and his train set. Then she has him play on her phone for a little. That's when Hanna comes over and I take this as my cue to head out. Spencer text me saying that she is at the Brew, so that's where I'm headed. When I get there I see Mona walk out of the coffee shop in dark clothing and my mind flashing for a second to her in the hoodie. Then I relax when I see Spencer walk out a few seconds later.

I get out of my car and walk over to her, "Spence." I whisper.

She looks at me and waves me over to her car. "Mona was on the phone with someone. Now she's taking off."

I get in the car with her, "Spence. I don't know if this is a good idea. What is she's still dangerous?"

She looks at me, "Of course she is still dangerous, Jessie. That's why we need to see what she is up to."

I watch Mona walk over to her car from across the street and my mind wanders away again. I see me getting dragged through the dark alley, her sitting me down against a wall as she goes through her trunk. Me getting tackled to the ground as I ran away, then getting stuffed in the trunk while she drugged and locked me inside. I see me being in the back of her car as she threatened to kill me and Spencer. All this goes through my mind in the matter of seconds and I can tell that my breathing is acting up.

"Jessie." I feel a hand go to my shoulder and I look. "If you don't want to come with me you don't have to. She did a lot more damage to you than she did to me. I don't want you giving into your PTSD after so much progress."

I look back at Mona as she starts to drive away. "No." I turn back to Spencer, "Lets go."

I'm not sure how long we are following her for but I don't take my eyes off of her dark car heading through what is now night. All I can think is where is she going? Does she actually know that we are following her and is making us go on a wild goose chase? Which is what I'm about to tell Spencer when Mona finally stops. We are practically in the middle of a deserted spot with woods surrounding us, no buildings or anything.

"I don't like this." I grip my seat, shaking my head as I stare around in a bit of panic.

From the corner of my eye I see Spencer looking at me, "Jessie." I turn to her, "I'm really happy that you're with me. After what I did I don't even deserve you forgiving me."

I smile, "I know you didn't mean any of it. I blew up without knowing the full story."

"Because I didn't tell anyone about what was going on."

"It's okay, Spence. Really."

She smiles and when we turn back we see Mona get out of her car. She walks into the woods and now it seems like the games about to begin. "You can stay here if you want." She tells me.

"You aren't going by yourself."

"Then keep up." She opens her door, "Because I don't plan on losing her."

I hesitate for a second and then open my door, "Crap." Then run after her as she takes off.

We walk for what feels like maybe five minutes or so of following Mona. Maybe a minute of that five not knowing where Mona went. Then we come to an area where it's pretty clear and can see smoke coming out of what seems to be a dark campsite that is now empty. I squint through the darkness and see what looks like a dark outline of something lying on the ground and I grab Spencer so she won't run off. However, she doesn't waste time to get her arm out of my grip and starts to walk towards the campsite.

"Spencer wait!" I half scream but mostly whisper as I watch her walk off. For a second I hesitate, but once I notice how creepy everything is I walk faster to get next to her.

When we get closer we see that the dark outline is a body. This person is facing down, wearing a leather black jacket like a biker would, and a black biker's helmet. There is blood on the hands and isn't moving, seeming to look dead. Spencer is already almost in tears as she starts to hyperventilate a bit.

"I think it's Toby." She says.

My heart sinks as I watch her get closer. "What? Why?"

"He wears a jacket like that. And the same helmet."

"Spencer, this can be anyone. A girl for all you know."

"This person's hands are too big to be a girl. And wearing guys clothes."

"Either way we need to call an ambulance."

"I need to be sure."

"Spencer….don't touch the body."

She doesn't touch the body, but she does point out to the bottom part the body where the back is. The shirt is a bit up and a tattoo is noticeable from this person's side. What I see makes my heart leap out of my chest, and I can't breathe for a second, because it says _901 free at last_ in black ink. Toby has the same one.

"No." my mouth drops as Spencer drops to her knees. I can hear her crying and she goes to take off the helmet. "No, Spence don't." I say, trying to hold back my urge to cry. "You don't want to see him like this."

I go to grab her, but before I can a sound of twigs snapping comes to my ears and a voice interrupts. "He's dead."

My heart sinks once again as I turn to look, because that is Mona's voice. She is egging Spencer on by saying that. "Don't listen to her."

Footsteps come now and we both see her running towards the trees. I don't even have time to stop Spencer before she gets up and takes off. "Mona!" she yells at the top of her lungs, knocking me aside for a second.

When I catch my footing I take off after her, but she is faster than me. "Spencer!"

"Mona!"

"Spence! Stop!" I try to kick into overdrive to run faster but I trip over something and smack my face into a tree, my vision blurring out for a second. I push myself away from the tree, "Spencer!" I put my hand over my right eye as I feel something dripping down it like a waterfall. When I pull it away the moon is just bright enough for me to see that it's covered in blood. "Oh great."

I don't hear footsteps anymore, but I head to where I last saw Spencer running. It's getting deeper into the woods now and darker that I can't tell which way is which. I take out my phone and shine my flashlight to see if I can find footprints, but nothing. So I have no choice but to backtrack and trace my own steps to her car. Maybe she ended up back there.

It takes me about ten minutes to find the spot we parked the car, trying to stop the rush of blood from my eye as I use my sleeve from my jacket and hand to put pressure on my eye. But when I get there the car is gone and now I'm freaking out that maybe I'm in the wrong spot, because Mona's car isn't here either.

My hand falls to my side, blood blinding me instantly and slides down my cheek. "Fuck…" I start to look around to see if maybe it's farther down either end of the road, but nothing. Then I realize that I don't know which way I came from because I spun around to many times to figure it out. "Spencer!"

My heart starts to race from panicking as I grab my phone, but see that I don't have service. Now I'm screwed, because I'm in the middle of nowhere and have no idea where Spencer went to. This is so not how I thought my day would go.

I take a deep breath to relax myself because I feel like I'm about to cry and just choose a way to walk since I have no idea what else to do at this point. The sound of the trees blowing and the animals making noise is creeping me the hell out as I start to walk faster. I don't even know where I'm going and I don't know how far away I am from where I left Spencer but I don't stop. Randomly my thoughts swarm me with every bad thing that can happen being alone in the woods and it panics me even more as I freak myself out, my breathing getting too weak for comfort for a few seconds.

Thankfully my phone beeps once I get closer to a sign that says I'm almost at a highway and I relax. Hearing this sound means that I have reception now so I look down at my phone. An _Unknown_ number pops up, which is never a good sign.

" _Poor, Jessie. Losing two of your best friends must be hard. Stay out of my way and you won't be next. -A_ " My heart skips a beat so bad that it feels like it completely stops for a second. What does that mean by two best friends? Toby is clearly dead, but did Mona kill Spencer too?

Tears start to fill in my eyes, one is probably crying out blood since I hit it against that tree and can't see how bad it is. But either way I'm sick to my stomach thinking I could have lost Spencer. So I quickly compose myself and call Aria, because I have no other way of getting home and now have a landmark to have her get to me.

When she picks me up she is with Hanna, they ask what happened and I explain. But to them this doesn't make sense that Toby is dead. Or more like in denial like I was for a few seconds when I saw the body. Hanna especially can't grasp that Mona would kill him, and they sure as hell don't think that Spencer is dead when I show them the text I got.

"Are you sure it was Toby?" Hanna asks.

I shrug, holding a handful of tissues to my bleeding eye. "I don't know. I didn't see a face because he had his helmet on, but I saw his tattoo. He was even wearing the same leather jacket he has."

" _A_ was probably making it seem that way because Spencer was getting too close to finding something out."

"It's a cruel joke if Mona did that."

"We don't know if it was Mona."

"Stop defending her, Hanna!" I say loud enough to make her jump, "She tortured you all last year, ran you over with a freaking car because she thought you found out who she was. Then she went so crazy she thought grabbing me was a good idea. Don't underestimate that she'd kill people, because she got very close to doing just that with me and Spencer the night of the masquerade ball."

Hanna's eyes shift away from me, "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Where did you see that body and where did you last see Spencer?" Aria asks.

We haven't left where they picked me up. So we are just sitting in Aria's parked car. Aria in the driver's seat, Hanna is in the passenger's seat and I'm sitting in the middle in the back. "Honestly I couldn't tell left from right at this point. I walked in different directions trying to find a signal or somewhere familiar, and with this injury I can barely see."

They both look at each other in concern, "Maybe we should get you to the hospital."

I shake my head, "I'm so sick of hospitals. If I end up there one more time I'm going to shoot myself."

"Jessie." Aria says.

"Not literally obviously."

"Fine." Hanna gets out, "We'll call Wren. He did us a favor last time when I refused to go after getting cut by that glass at Noel's cabin."

I nod, "I'm good with that. Then we have to find Spencer. Because I won't be able to sleep tonight."

"Jessie, she's fine. _A_ is messing with you because you were with Spencer. It's what _A_ does." Aria says as she turns on her car, "But what you have to worry about is how you are going to explain what you did to your eye to everyone you know. Because it doesn't look good." Then she drives off.


	31. Chapter 31

**Hey everyone. Hope you're enjoying the story!**

 **Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review!**

* * *

The next morning Spencer doesn't make it to school. Which is now freaking us all out because now it is seeming more likely that something happened to her. Especially now that Hanna and Aria seem to believe me when I said Toby is dead because Emily had gotten a message from _A_ saying that Toby is " _A_ no more" and an _In Loving Memory_ card with Toby's picture on it. They think that maybe it's possible that _A_ killed him because he was going to start helping us out, but then they think that he may have faked his death because he isn't going to help and is trying to throw us off. But either way Spencer isn't here and I'm freaking out.

"Guys, she has ditched school before." Hanna says.

"Yea you're right I guess." Aria says.

I look at them, "After the message I got last night? I'm not buying she just happened to miss school. I mean, I'm almost positive that I was in the wrong spot from where we parked her car yesterday. There's no way she'd take off like that when she knew I was with her." I look at Mona sitting at one of the tables and kind of want to hit her, "But if she did just up and left me behind then where is she? 'Cause I'll kill her myself."

"You're a ray of sunshine today." Hanna says.

I look at her, "Would you be in a good mood after running around the woods in the dark to follow Mona straight to Toby's dead body? Getting your head smacked into a tree that lead to stitches and no basketball for a week because Spencer wouldn't slow down enough to catch up? Then on top of that getting a text practically saying that people are dead, while getting lost with no service because Spencer may have forgotten about you?" I barely gave myself time to breathe as I sped through that paragraph, because I wanted to make a point without being interrupted.

They all side look at each other, then back to me. "No." they all get out.

I nod and look back at Mona, "Didn't think so."

"Look." Em says, "We just need to get through the day. If she doesn't call or text we'll go to her house after school."

We all nod as the bell rings and go to take off to history. "How's your eye?" Hanna asks.

Thinking back to last night, in order for Wren not to ask questions when we ended up having him meet us at my store I had to tell him that I was moving around some stuff and slipped into the corner of one of the shelves in the inventory room. Which is believable enough to why just below my eyebrow was cut straight across.

 _"_ _You should be more careful, Jessie." Wren had told me when he checked my eye that was still bleeding pretty heavily._

 _I slightly smiled, "I'm usually pretty good at this stuff but I ended up tripping over my own feet and just toppled right into the shelf."_

 _"_ _Hold this." He had told me, putting a gauze to my eye. "This'll soak it up." He goes through his stuff, "You're going to need stitches."_

 _"_ _Really?"_

 _He nodded, "Definitely, which means no physical stuff."_

 _"_ _So no basketball?" I asked in worry._

 _"_ _No basketball." He looked back to me, "Or gym."_

 _I rolled my eyes, "Great."_

 _He grabbed the gauze away from me and started to put a needle into my eyebrow area to numb it and then starts to stitch it up, "So why didn't you go to the hospital?"_

I'll have to admit, it was very hard to concentrate on that conversation. His British accent still gets to me, but I still did my best to explain why I didn't want to go to the hospital without spilling what really happened. So now this is what I have to tell anyone who isn't one of the girls on why I have a black eye and a clear strip bandage going right over my stitches.

Then I'm pissed about having to miss basketball. It's really not sitting well with me, because I feel like since I started this season I have done nothing but miss games and practices from injuries, or making excuses why I can't make it based off of this _A_ thing. If it continues like this I'm gonna be missing too many days to play if we happen to make the finals.

Coming back from this memory I just shrug, "It's alright. Have a killer headache, but at least it wasn't worse."

"Jessie, you can barely see 'cause of how swollen the bone from your eyebrow is." Emily says. "How could it be any worse than that?"

"Well…" I look at her, "I could have lost my eye."

She slowly nods, "That's a good point."

Just before we can get to the doors to go inside, Hackett shows up with Melissa. She looks a little terrified and I have a bad feeling about it. "Girls." He says when they get in front of us, "Good, you're all together. I think you know Spencer's sister, Melissa."

We all look at her, "Have you seen Spencer?" She asks. "Have you talked to her?"

"Not today." Emily says.

"Is something wrong?" Aria asks, looking behind to me.

"Spencer didn't come home last night, she's not answering her phone. I thought she would be here with you." She looks at all of us in turn, "Which is why I came here before I went to the police."

My heart sinks and I zone out from the conversation that they are all having with Hackett and Melissa. I need to say something right? Like the fact that I went with her into the woods, that we found Toby's body. That I couldn't find her when she took off after Mona and then got a text basically confirming that Spencer might be dead too? But before I can even get that out Blake practically interrupts the conversation by storming over to me, grabbing my arm a bit tight and turns me around to him.

"I need to talk to you." He looks a little pissed.

I look up, "Can't this wait. I'm in the middle of something."

He looks at the girls, Hackett, and Melissa. "Sorry, but this is important."

"Spencer is missing, Blake. I don't think…" He tightens his grip on me a lot more, "Ay!" I whisper enough for only him to hear me.

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Hackett asks.

I look at the girls, who all have a bit of worry in their eyes. "No, sorry. Give me one second."

I pull my arm out of his hand and walk to one of the walls, almost everyone has gone to first period. "What?" I say in a mean voice.

"Don't give me that attitude."

"Well considering you practically Hulk smashed your way to me and then was rude to me and my…"

"Me being rude to you?" he laughs, "I should be telling you that."

I cross my arms, my eyebrows slanting in a bit of anger. Which actually hurts my messed up eye, but I don't let that show. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I heard that you're not a virgin anymore."

"What?" I say confused, "Where did…"

"That the reason Andrew has been refusing to sit with us in class is because you had sex with him and told him it was a mistake so you didn't want to see him anymore."

My mouth completely drops, "I…"

"How could you?"

"I didn't!"

"Don't lie to me."

"I am not lying, Blake. That is not what happened!"

His eyes flame in anger, "So something did happen with him."

"No, you're not listening to me."

He shakes his head, "I don't want to listen to you if you cheated on me."

"Holy shit, Blake. Fucking shut up long enough to hear me out."

"Don't talk to me like that."

"I did not do anything with Andrew. I caught Spencer and him taking off their clothes when I went to visit her. They probably had too much to drink or something." I decide to lie about the part of me getting jealous or of her trying to persuade him to get her back on the team with that tactic. I don't want to get anyone into trouble. "Now it's just awkward to be around each other."

He inhales a few times, "So nothing happened?"

I shake my head, " _No_." I emphasize.

"I just thought…"

"I know what you thought. But you know me well enough to think that I'd ever cheat on someone. That's not who I am."

He nods, "I'm sorry."

"I know you're protective of what we have, but you need to trust me." I rub my arm where he held it, "And don't touch me like that again. I don't like that side of you."

He gets a little closer and gently rubs the spot he hurt me, "I didn't mean to do that." He leans down and kisses me on the head.

"Don't tell anyone about what I told you about him and Spencer though." I look up at him, "I don't know what the reason for it happening was 'cause I took off right away, and I didn't want to know."

He nods, "I won't."

"Where did you even hear that rumor?"

"Someone text me this morning. But there was no name, and the number was blocked."

My heart sinks, "Was it signed by anyone?"

He shakes his head, "No. just the text."

"Everything okay, Jessie?" Hanna's voice comes from behind me.

I turn around and nod, "Yea, just fixing up a problem that someone started."

"I'm late for class." Blake kisses me, "See you later."

I watch him walk away, "Someone text him that I apparently had sex with Andrew." I say when he's out of sight.

Their mouths drop, "What?" Aria asks.

I tell them about our conversation. Why he was mad and what the text said. They tell me that they didn't like the way he was holding onto me when he came to get me, no matter the reason he was upset. So I make sure that they know I took care of it and defended myself when his temper rose. Then they tell me the rest of their conversation with Hackett and Melissa. That since Spencer hasn't come around since last night she is going to call the police since we haven't talked or seen her.

"I should have told them that I saw her last night."

"And say what?" Emily asks. "That you went on a wild goose chase after Mona because Spencer had a bad feeling that Mona was still _A_ and led you guys to Toby's dead body?"

"Yes?"

She shakes her head, "You know how dangerous that would be?"

"Because they won't believe me or because Mona might kill me?"

"What do you think?" Aria says.

"Guys, we have no idea where Spencer ended up after chasing Mona. I need to at least let the police know that much."

"Like the cops have been any help to us in the last year." Hanna says, "They'll probably find some way to pin all this on you since you didn't go to them right away."

"That's comforting."

"Well it's the truth." Aria adds.

I watch all of them for a few seconds and then nod, "Fine. Whatever."

After school the girls go to look for Spencer anywhere they can think of. Me and Aria head over to the library and a few other spots with no luck. Then we go to chill with Ezra at his house for a bit, hoping that we hear from someone soon enough because I don't know about her but I'm terrified that something did happen and not saying anything is making it worse.

I watch some TV for a bit, eventually falling asleep until Aria wakes me up to head home. Hanna and Emily had no luck with finding her either. When we get home I head straight upstairs to do homework, because I need something to keep me occupied. That is until Aria practically storms into the room at a run sometime later and almost falls on me when she doesn't realize that I'm sitting on the floor against my bed.

I grab her leg before she can topple over, "Whoa, chill."

"What are you doing on the floor?" she inhales deeply.

"I didn't feel like sitting on my bed." I give her a confused look," What's the excitement about?"

"Emily said that Spencer is okay."

My eyes widen, wincing a little from the cut. "She…she is?" I sigh in relief, "Thank God." I get up and throw my stuff on the bed. "Where is she?"

"That's the weird thing." She says, "Somehow she ended up in Radley."

We meet up with Hanna and Emily at the Brew. Doctor Sullivan had been the one to call Em and let her know that Spencer was there. A park ranger found her wandering in the woods. She had nothing on her to indicate who she was and for some reason she didn't tell them.

"So she was in the woods the whole time looking for Mona." I say, about on the edge of tears for leaving her there. " _A_ just wanted me to panic."

"That's _A's_ game, Jessie. She wants to make us go insane." Hanna says.

"And clearly Spencer got to her breaking point when we found Toby dead."

Hanna's phone rings and she looks at it, then shows us the text. It's a picture of her mom with Wilden at her car. _A_ has their signature marked on the side of the picture.

"Why is _A_ sending you that?" I ask her.

"It's a long story." Hanna says, "But nothing for you to worry about."

"But…"

"Everything is fine, Jessie. Right now we just need to figure something out with Spencer."

Once again I'm being kept in the dark about something. But she's right, right now we need to worry about Spencer. She's going through something and we need to help her. So I nod, "Okay. Let's help Spencer."

Unfortunately we aren't allowed to see her until her psych evaluation is done in seventy-two hours. They think she might actually be insane, and if they think this then she may never get out of there. Honestly, she might actually be safer in there from _A_ than she ever has been out here. But I sure as hell would miss her smartass if they kept her stuck in that loony bin.


	32. Chapter 32

**I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **All credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Leave a review and let me know what you think!**

* * *

At school the next day all three of us are hanging in the bathroom, talking about Spencer. If it wasn't for the fact that I was there when she saw Toby's body they would have thought twice about believing the story when Dr. Sullivan let Emily know that was what Spencer told her.

"They don't have to let her go at all if she's really…" Aria stops as we watch her talk. "You know."

"Crazy?" I say impulsively without really thinking about it. I look at them as they give me a look, "Uh..sorry."

"What are you saying?" Em asks when she turns back to Aria.

"I'm saying _A_ has been turning the screws so long one of us was bound to snap a string. Just never thought that it would be Spencer."

"I did." Hanna says.

"Why?" Em asks when we look at her.

"Because, there's a downside to being too smart."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, "You were never the weak link, Emily. Spencer was." Aria tells her.

The door to the bathroom opens up and we all turn to it. My heart starts to race and both my fists go into a ball when it happens to be our luck that Mona is the one who walks in. She smiles at us as my head follows her to the sink when the others walk to the door, but Aria grabs my arm and pulls me away from her so I don't do something stupid.

"So, where's the fifth musketeer?" she says slyly as we stop, "Haven't seen her today."

"If you mean Spencer…" Aria says, letting me go to walk back to her, "I think you know exactly where she is. She's in Radley and you're the reason why."

Mona turns to her and has a very confused face, it actually looks legit. "Radley?"

"Don't play dumb, Mona." Hanna tells her.

"We could have made it through senior year and been finished, but you couldn't leave it alone." Emily says.

"Listen to me…"

"No you listen." Aria says, getting up in her face. "If Spencer doesn't get better and she doesn't get out of Radley, you are going to wish you broke your neck when you fell off that cliff." She is so pissed off that the anger in her voice is very noticeable.

I'm a little shocked to hear her say that as I walk a little closer and grab her arm to pull her away. Then Mona turns to me, seeming to remember I'm here. "Hello, Jessie." She says sweetly. "How are you?"

 _Jessie, shut up!_ My brain echoes, the sound of tape surrounds my ears. "Fantastic." Is what I go with, trying to keep my breathing controlled as I put a pissed off face on to mask my anxiety. "Except that you're here and Spencer is in Radley because of you."

She smiles, "I had nothing to do with her getting sent to Radley."

"The hell you didn't." I point to my eye. "I got this running after her when she was chasing you in the woods. I saw you, don't play stupid with me."

" _Attention. Aria Montgomery, please report to the principal's office_." The secretary's voice comes over the intercom. " _Aria Montgomery, to the office_."

Mona smiles and looks at the mirror, smoothing her hair to the side. Then she turns to me and walks closer, putting her hand onto my arm and it makes my heart jump a bit. "Seems you haven't learned to mind your own business after all."

I try to keep eye contact so she doesn't think she has control of me, but her eyes still scare the hell out of me to this day. "I told you I would never let my friends do things on their own."

"Shame." She slightly smiles, "Just don't whine when you get yourself into trouble." Then she walks away.

I start to shake as she leaves the bathroom and someone puts their hand onto my shoulder, making me jump so bad that I hit my elbow against the sink. "You're okay." Emily says.

"Sorry." I take a deep breath and rub my elbow.

"It's okay." Hanna says, "She is purposely testing your anxiety."

I shake my head. "I can't do this anymore. I can't deal being in the same places as her."

"You're strong enough to be able to get through all her shit, Jessie. She has no power over you." Hanna continues.

"She has every power over me. Everything reminds me of what she did. That is having power over me."

"You'll get through this. It's barely been over a week." Aria says as she hugs me.

"We will all get through her being here." Emily says.

"Till then we have to focus on this new _A_." Aria adds.

"And getting Spencer out of Radley." Hanna finishes.

I nod at them and we all walk out of the bathroom. Aria heads to Hackett's office, Emily goes to practice, and me and Hanna head to the Brew to wait for Aria. I feel this is going to be a long day.

It feels like forever when we are finally told that we can see Spencer the following night. The evaluation is done with when we walk in around seven at night but they haven't said if she's okay to leave. From the looks of her when we walk into the room she is hanging in, she doesn't look too good. She kind of seems like she is looking right past us when the nurse tells her that we are here.

I grab a chair with the girls and set mine between Spencer and Hanna. When I sit beside her she kind of shifts her body away from me for a second, as if not knowing who I am and scared of me.

"It's okay, Spence." I say.

She doesn't look at me but says. "I'm sorry I left you." She slowly looks up at me and her eyes soften. "You're hurt."

I slightly smile, "I'm fine. A tree just got in the way of my face when I was trying to keep up with you. No biggie."

She smiles a bit, "I love your sense of humor."

"And I love you. You know that right?"

She nods, "Of course."

It gets a little quiet, then Em says. "Hey. You knew we were coming right?" Spencer shifts her eyes away from me, "We spoke with your mom."

"We wanted to be here the first day." Aria adds.

"She said you were going to be home tomorrow." Emily continues.

Spencer nods slowly, "She still believes that?" she looks at us, "She thinks I'll be able to sleep through the night if I just take a nice bubble bath and lay in my own bed?"

Emily kind of seems speechless for a second, "I think what she wants is…"

"I know what she wants." Spencer says, "But they don't make a loofa that scrapes out the inside of your head."

Then out of nowhere Hanna blurts out, "The park rangers found a body."

Spencer looks at her so fast that I thought she was about to have a meltdown or something.

"Whoa." Aria gets out

"Hanna!" Emily yells at her.

"What? The sooner she knows the soon she checks out of this place."

Emily looks at Spencer and tries for a smile, "What Hanna is trying to say is…we have good news. They found a body in the woods. The police believe it was a camper."

"It was Toby." Spence says.

I feel really bad that she has gone through what she has. I wish we would have pulled off that helmet before she went chasing Mona for killing him and making her end up here. I still think there is more to it, even if the others don't.

"No, Spence it wasn't." Aria says. "This person, he'd been missing for awhile and he was nowhere near where you thought you saw…"

"I know what I saw. It was Toby." She looks at me, "Right, Jessie? You were there, you saw him too."

I look at the girls, who all give me a sad look. I open my mouth a few times and then slowly shake my head, shrugging. "Spence, we never saw his face."

"But you saw where his body was. Tell me you told them where we saw it. It wasn't that guy they say was somewhere else."

"I…I don't remember where we saw his body. You're the brains of remembering simple details like that. I couldn't even find your car after I lost you."

Even though this is true I actually never told the police what I saw or that I was there. I had never reported Spencer missing that night because we were all scared of _A_. Had I gone and blabbed that I was with her and didn't say anything when it first happened or when Melissa asked I may have made things worse, or been a suspect of something.

"Jessie, no." she has tears in her eyes. "He was wearing Toby's clothes, he had the tattoo."

"I know." I nod, "But I think _A_ was just messing with you with this person they found instead." Then I start to think more, "Or maybe hid his body to make you seem unstable."

"Jessie!" Hanna yells at me, "Don't give her that bullshit."

I look at her, shaking my head in protest. "You weren't there. You didn't see him."

"You didn't see his face, Jessie." She says, eyeing me like she wants to kick my ass. "We've already had this conversation."

"Doesn't mean I agree with it."

It gets super quiet for about five seconds. Then Aria breaks the silence. "Hey, so I was thinking. Tomorrow night when you get home…"

"I need to stay here." Spencer says in a monotone. "I need more time."

"Time for what?" Hanna asks, a little angry

"Hanna." Emily says softly.

She looks at her with a mad face, "Shuffling around in Mona's old slippers isn't going to get her any better."

"Hanna, chill." Aria says, her eyes popping out a bit in anger.

"You know what?" Hanna continues to Spencer, "I would not die in here if I were you. I had to sneak around in that kitchen and I saw a roach big enough to wear an apron."

"Moving on." Aria says a little louder this time to her.

"You are not crazy. This place is." Hanna adds.

"I'm too tired to have this fight right now, guys." Spencer says as she gets up and starts to walk. "I feel safe here." She turns back to us, "Those bars don't just keep you from getting out, they keep other people from getting in." Then she walks away.

We all head outside when we are escorted to the door, it's raining out and we have to run to Hanna's car. I hop in the front seat and don't waste time to look at her. "You should have toned it down. She's going through a lot."

She doesn't bother looking at me, "Says the one who made her more anxious by backing up that Toby may still be dead."

"He could be for all we know!"

"Guys, stop." Emily says.

Hanna turns to me, "Whether he is or not is not the point. We need to get her out."

"Not the point? He still may be dead, and if he is we need to make sure that people don't think she's crazy for thinking this."

"Jessie, chill out." Aria gets in.

"If you want Spencer to get out then you need her to know that you believe her. And that you are willing to help her prove what she thinks she saw. Whether or not it turns out to be the truth at least she'll have peace from it."

"You think she'll have peace on knowing Toby is dead? Now who is crazy?"

My eyebrows slant in anger, "You're such a piece of shit, Hanna."

Her eyes flash as she gets pissed, "Get out of my car."

"Hanna…" Aria tries to start.

"I've had it with you thinking you're smarter than us. We know how to take care of our friends and our _A_ problem. And I'm sick of you playing the victim in this whole situation."

My face starts to heat up, "Are you kidding me?"

"No. Get out."

"Hanna, knock it off!" Aria yells at her.

"It's raining." Emily tells her. "She is not leaving this car."

"I said get out, Jessie."

"Fine." I open the door and pull up my hood. "I'm done with all this shit. Don't ask me to help anymore."

"Our pleasure."

"Jessie, wait." Aria says, but I don't pay attention as I get out and slam the door behind me.

Aria tries to follow me when I get a few steps into the walk but I make her go back to Hanna's car. I'm too boiled up to have her get me back in the car or talk to Hanna. She overstepped this time and I don't want to see her. But I was truthful enough that I may just be ready to get out of this mess once and for all.

The next day Hanna has nothing to say to me, so I avoid her all day. Even in Algebra that we have together this year and happen to sit right beside her. She had no right yelling at me and making it seem like I was in the wrong for wanting to help Spencer feel sane again. But she doesn't seem to get that so I don't need to be pulled anymore into their mess. It may not have been Aria or Emily's fault that Hanna said what she did but this all started because of them and I'm so done.

Then after school the following day I go to visit Spencer again. She looks better, but like she's not getting much sleep. She's sitting over on a couch talking to Wren when someone calls him over and he seems me.

"Jessie." His British accent making my heart skip a beat, "How are you?"

I smile a bit, "I'm good."

"Your eye says the opposite."

I half laugh, "It's really not as bad as it looks."

"I still recommend that you go to an actually hospital from now on rather than calling me."

"I'll keep that in mind."

He watches me for a second, then turns to Spencer, "I'm assuming she's who you are here to see?"

I nod, "Is she okay?"

"I haven't had time to talk to her, but considering she is here I'd say not."

"Right, of course."

"I'll be right back." He looks over my head, "I have to check something." Then he walks away.

I head over to Spencer and stand there for a second because she doesn't notice me. Then she slowly looks up and smiles, "Jessie."

"Hey, Spence." I sit beside her. "How are you doing?"

She slowly nods, "As alright as I can be for a crazy person."

I slightly smile, "You're not crazy, Spence. Just someone really wants you to believe it."

"Well either way I feel safer here than I've ever had since Mona became _A_. I gotta give her that."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, "Me and Hanna got into an argument the night we came to see you."

"About what?"

"I didn't like that she was making it seem like you didn't see what you saw. I saw the same thing. Whether it was Toby or not I think you have the right to know if _A_ set you up or if it was really him."

She smiles, "Will you help me."

I watch her for a second, "I'd love to, but I can't do it on my own. The girls clearly don't believe us, and even if Aria or Em did I kind of already told them that I've had it with this _A_ situation and want out."

She watches me for a few seconds and then nods, "I don't blame you. If you stick in this any longer you will end up here with me."

I laugh, "We'd make a great team."

She smiles and nods, "Always."

A few hours later I'm sitting at home, listening to music as I do my homework. Everyone else is out of the house. Aunt Ella is at the carnival, Aria is picking up Malcolm from karate class for Ezra who is at an job interview. Then Mike is hanging out, and Uncle Byron is at work.

When I'm done with all my homework an hour later I start to draw. I'm just about getting fed up with trying to get the design right on something I've been working on for a few days sometime later that I toss it onto the floor just as Aria walks into the room. She seems a little off, teary eyed too.

"You okay, kiddo?"

She walks over and sits on my bed, "I told Ezra that I don't know if I can do it anymore."

I put my stuff aside and sit on my knees beside her, "Do what?"

"Be part of this triangle. Trying to live this life of me, his ex-girlfriend, and kid all in one mess. In the end someone is going to get hurt, might as well be me."

I get a little closer and cross my legs now, grabbing her arm to have her look at me. "Ria, you know Ezra isn't going to let you go without a fight. He loves you too much for that."

"And I love him too much to hope he can balance this out." She gets quiet for a second, "I almost lost Malcolm today because _A_ took him before I could pick him up from class."

My heart sinks, "What?"

"It's a long story, but he's okay. But I can't even balance this _A_ thing out on top of a relationship. How would I explain that to him?"

"I…"

Her phone rings, "Sorry." She looks at it, "It's Hanna."

"Cool." I say unenthusiastically.

She looks at me, "Jessie, you have to give her the benefit of the doubt that she is stressed out."

"We are all stressed out, Aria. But you don't see us saying mean stuff like that too each other."

"Well she's coming over because _A_ set her up again. So deal with it."

"I'll deal with it up here on my own thanks. I'm done with _A_ , and I'm not talking to her until she actually owns up to her part of that asshole situation she made. Because I was just making a point to give Spencer some piece of mind even if Hanna didn't think so."

"I know that. You did have a point, I'm just saying that Hanna isn't the type to blow up unless she has a reason to or is stressed out." I don't answer so she continues with, "And as much as I love the idea that you're out, we both know that _A_ isn't going to agree with that. They'll target you whether you're willingly helping or not."

Hanna and Aria are downstairs for maybe an hour talking. What catches my attention is that I went down to the kitchen to grab something to eat when I hear a banging sound of a door slamming and Emily's voice travels to me, "It was the wrong body."

"What?" Aria says.

"The John Doe. The one with the mask, was the wrong one."

I practically run from the kitchen to the family room, almost tripping over my own feet as I watch them talk from the study. None of them notice me, but Em looks completely terrified and out of breath. To the point where she seems like she may pass out.

"Emily, you're not making sense." Hanna tells her.

"They just found a body tonight. A shallow grave out in the woods."

"Where?" Aria says, her voice picking up now.

"Exactly where Spencer said it was." She inhales deeply, "They found her purse close by."

I drop the bag of chips I have in my hands and they make a crunch noise when it falls. They all turn to me, my face probably looks super pale from shock. Then I quickly bend down and get it. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"You were right." Hanna says, walking closer to me. "You had every right to want to make Spencer seem sane by not having her think she imagined it."

"If I didn't imagine it, I know she didn't." I say slowly.

She nods, "I know. I wasn't thinking when we were talking. I just wanted Spencer to snap out of it."

"Yea, I get it. It's okay."

We hug it out and then we all sit on the couch, thinking of what to do next. So much for being _A_ free.


	33. Chapter 33

**Happy PLL Day everyone!**

 **How are you all enjoying season seven so far?**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform own everything.**

 **Review and let me know what you guys think!**

* * *

On Sunday me and Aria get dressed to meet with the girls at Spencer's. She is finally coming home and none of us really know how she is going to be. I saw her the day before and she seemed alright, happier actually that she seemed to finally be getting some sleep. But it seemed kind of forced happiness. I don't know how to explain it.

When we get there Hanna and Em are already waiting for us by the gate. Before we go in I ask Hanna if we can talk while the other two head inside without us. It's been a couple days since we talked about our argument and she apologized for what she said, but with everything going on with Spencer and Toby I realize that I didn't do the same. I just put it all on her and made it seem like she was at fault. I mean, yea, the way she dismissed what I was trying to tell her about helping Spencer was true, but she didn't deserve me yelling at her that way. She didn't deserve my attitude, and she sure as hell didn't deserve me calling her names. It was so uncalled for.

"I never said I was sorry about the night we had that fight did I?"

She looks a little taken by surprised, "Well, no. But what would you need to apologize for?"

"For calling you a piece of shit." I give her a sad look, "We may have been arguing about the same thing but I took it too far."

She shakes her head, "Jessie, I'm the one who got you to that point. I put aside your efforts to make Spencer feel better because I was upset about other things on top of that. I egged you on by saying you were crazy for thinking positive. I shouldn't have said that. Or that we didn't need you and acting like a victim. 'Cause in reality you are. You are just as much as us."

I shake my head, "No, Han. Really, it's on me. I messed up. I just had a lot of built up emotions from the whole situation and it set me off more than it should have. There was no excuse for it. And you are right that you guys can handle this stuff without me. I don't need to be involved to get to the bottom of this _A_ mess. You just let me because I force it at times. I'm such an ass."

"You're not an ass, Jessie. You're human." She gives me a hug, "It's all water under the ocean, okay?"

I laugh a little as we pull away, "You mean water under the bridge?"

She smiles and waves her hand, "Yea, same thing."

We laugh it off and then head inside. The girls don't seem to ask what our random disappearance was about as they are both sitting at the kitchen island. They both look like they feel awkward being in the house, and I see the same look on Hanna's face as she walks over to sit beside Aria, who is next to Em. I think that me and Spence are on better terms than they are with her because they tried to convince her that Toby wasn't dead and probably messing with her. So they seem to be a bit more on edge than I am about seeing her as we sit in her kitchen for what feels like ever in silence, because we don't know what else to say.

I'm still copping with the fact that the information Em told us the other day is true about Toby. When her mom told her to keep it on the down low because the police weren't sure what to make of the body since it was severally damaged it was hard not to react. Em's mom has been working at the police station for awhile, so once she got this information she told Em and now that it's out there it doesn't make it any easier to grasp knowing that we weren't seeing things. He may have been part of the _A_ team and we will never know the reason for it, but he was still one of my best friends and I can't wrap my mind around the fact that he is actually gone.

"She knows we're down here right?" Hanna asks, shifting her eyes to Aria.

"Maybe she is just as nervous to see us as we are to see her." Em says.

"Guys, she is the exact same Spencer that we saw last week." Aria tells them.

"No, the Spencer I saw in Radley was not the Spencer I know."

"That was before…." Em says slowly, and I know that she is talking about Toby.

"Em, we aren't just here for her. We are here for you too." Hanna gets in. "And you." She looks where I'm sitting at the end of island on Em's other side.

I half smile as it gets quiet for a second, "Do we talk about him?" Aria asks, "Do we bring it up?"

"I don't want to say anything that can get her back there." Em says.

Just the thought of it makes me anxious and I have to get up. My breathing getting a little harder to control, but I make it non-noticeable so they won't worry.

"Where are you going?" Aria asks.

"Nowhere."I manage to get out after a painful breath and head to one of the back doors to stare out the window. "My anxiety is making me too overwhelmed to sit."

They don't say anything to me, seeming to get the hint that the talk of Toby is making me upset. But I can still hear them talk a little bit more about him just as I look to the side and notice that Spencer is on the steps.

"You know how I feel about hope." She says, looking over at them. "Breads eternal misery." She clearly is reacting to whatever they were talking about, but I blocked them out and have no idea what was the point of it.

However, I don't care as I walk closer and smile, "Hey Spence."

She looks at me and smiles, "Hey." She gets down the stairs and hugs me. "You okay?"

I nod, "I'm good." I pull away and look up at her, "How are you?"

She slowly nods, "Fine." Then she turns to the girls, "We lost Toby a long time ago. We just didn't know it." She grabs my hand and brings me closer to them as they don't bother to get up from the seats of the kitchen island. "Well you got to love the Hastings." She gets to the food and stuff on it and smiles, "I get back from the mental hospital and they welcome my friends with tea and crumpets."

For a second no one says anything. Then Hanna breaks the ice, "What's the difference between a crumpet and an English muffin?"

I give her a weird look, and so does Aria. "Hanna, does it matter?" she asks.

"I'm just making conversation."

"An English muffin is baked bread. It's made of dough. And a crumpet is a griddle cake." She picks one up, "It's made of batter." Then drops it.

I half smile, "Why doesn't it surprise me that you actually know that?"

She looks down at me and smiles, "Because you've known me forever."

I nod, "True that."

"How are you, Spence?" Emily asks, as if I didn't just go through this with her already.

She watches her for a second and nods, "I'm alright."

"You know you don't have to pretend to be okay for us." Aria tells her, a bit of sadness in her eyes.

"Yea." Hanna looks at her, "If this was the act you had to pull off to get out of there then…"

"Do you remember when you were in the lighthouse, Emily?" Spencer interrupts her and we all look at Em, seeing a bit of sadness on her face. She looks like she kind of wants to tell Spencer off, but thinks better of it as she continues. "You had to make that choice. It was either him or you." Emily slowly nods at her, "I wasn't as strong as you were. When I saw Toby in the woods like that, I just gave up." She looks at me, "And you held onto hope for me even though I left you, even though Toby was dead and you were lost by yourself. You managed to hold yourself together."

"What changed?" Emily asks, "You seem like you're back to yourself."

She turns away from me, "I decided I didn't want to be a victim anymore." Everyone stares at her as it gets quiet, "That's not who I am." She turns away from us and grabs something from the counter behind her. "Here." She hands us all something.

"What's this?" Aria asks.

I take the envelope she gives me and open it up. It's an invitation that says,

 _THE LODGE AT THORNHILL_

 _Join the_

 _Hastings Family_

 _For_

 _Dinner and dancing_

 _Friday 8 p.m._

"My parents told all of their friends that I went to Radley for exhaustion. So they want to throw a soiree to make sure that everyone knows that I'm all better now." We all look at her and her face kind of saddens for a second, "Could really use the support." She walks away and puts the other invitations back on the counter. "Can you guys please come?"

"Of course." Hanna says.

"Sure." Emily gets in.

"Yea, you know we'd do anything for you." Aria adds.

"I might actually have a makeup game that day, Spence." I put the invitation back in the envelope. "But I will definitely do my best to make it."

School the next day is the same as always, making me want to bang my head against the wall. This year is really giving me a run for my money and I cannot keep up with all this work. I haven't even had much time to open up the store lately with all my homework. But all I know is I'm sitting in Algebra class about ready to knock out when Hanna kicks her leg into mine, making me head jolt up in surprise from resting on my hand.

"Mrs. Clark is going to have your head if she sees you falling asleep." She whispers when I side look at her.

I rub my eyes, "I can't help it. This class is too boring."

She half smiles, "I know. But you gotta stay awake if you want to pass."

Then as if it saved my life the bell rings and I sigh in relief. "Guess I'll try again tomorrow."

She laughs, "And I'll have your back as always."

After practice I take a walk over to the Brew before heading home. I grab my usual coffee from there and then head out to walk home. As I'm getting closer to the corner I see Aria and Ezra having a conversation on one of the benches. From where I am I can just make out that she is crying as she starts to stand up. But before she can go anywhere he turns to where she is walking away and grabs her hand, talking to her and then she lets go and takes off. Now I debate whether to go over, and the bigger debate is whether to talk to him or go after her.

I make the quick decision to go over to him. Why? Because I live with Aria, she'll come to me when I get home. Ezra won't bother to reach out to me about any of his problems and I always have a hard time texting or calling him for comfort after they end up fighting. But this one seems more serious and the fact that she told me the other day that she doesn't know if she can handle it anymore makes me want to talk to him first.

So I walk over, kind of slow to make sure I don't scare him. "Hey."

He turns to me and wipes one of his eyes, as if crying. "Hey, Jessie. Didn't see you there."

I sit next to him, "Yea, sorry. I was just walking over from the Brew to head home."

He gets quiet for a second, "Did you hear what me and Aria were talking about?"

I shake my head, "No. I saw you guys sitting here. She kind of looked upset when she left. Wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Your best friend is the one you saw looking sad and you came to make sure I was okay?"

"Well, you're my friend too."

He half smiles, then says. "We just broke up."

I give him a sad look, "What happened?"

He shakes his head a few times, "I was trying to get a sub job for Rosewood and I got it. But because I was still seeing her I thought against it."

"She wasn't happy was she?"

"Not exactly. I need a job and she doesn't like that she's keeping me from it. Then the whole being a dad thing is becoming a lot for her to handle on top of that. So she broke it off."

I lean over and grab his hand, "I'm sorry. I know you love her. But she loves you too."

He nods, "I know. I just wish it was different."

"I'm sure you guys will figure something out."

He half smiles, "Optimism is always your thing."

I half laugh, "At times, yea."

He inhales and starts to get up, "I have to go. Can I give you a ride home?"

"You sure?"

He nods, "Positive. I feel like I don't see you anymore."

"That's because you have a kid now, and I'm busy with school, basketball and work."

"And I thought my life was fast paced."

I laugh, "You have no idea how crazy my life is."

The heart to heart conversation I have with Aria about Ezra is more heartbreaking than it was with him. He seemed determined not to seem upset in front of me. But Aria is a wreck as she can't hold in her tears long enough to even tell me what happened. I mean, I have to have her stop a few times just to calm herself down enough to breathe. Even when she does that she can't keep the tears away for long.

Eventually I have her relax and tell her that she can talk to me more about it when she's ready. I may know the story because Ezra told me but I want her to get it out too so that it's not all weighing on her shoulders until she breaks. So instead I have her play video games with me, just to keep her occupied enough to forget about it.

A few days later Em has her swim meet at school, luckily Mr. Brooks allowed us to have practice off to support them because it is an important race. I think this is the first time I've actually been able to see Em race in her sport, and I love seeing her fly down the pool like she's a fish. She's really in her element.

Then when I head off to grab some food when it is done I somehow manage to lose the girls. The crowd is so big from all the supporters of both schools that it's hard to figure out where they can be. That is until I find Spencer following someone in a red coat in a sea of people with red (since the other team is the Devils) and try my best not to lose her in the crowd as I watch her head over towards double doors.

I try to hurry towards her as fast as I can, squeezing myself through anyone who gets in the way. Finally getting to the doors I push them aside and realize that I lost her. There is no one in the halls. Then I see that the girl's bathroom is right next to me and hear voices, one of them sounding like Spencer.

I shove open the door just as Em says, "Toby is alive?"

I stop in my tracks and they all turn to me. "T-Toby is what?"

For a second no one says anything. Until Em repeats. "He's alive."

I almost fall back from shock and Spencer has to grab me before I do. "He's alive…Toby's alive?"

Spencer nods, "Yea. He is."

I lean back onto the sink, "How do you know that?"

They all look at each other for a second, then Spencer tells me that while she was in Radley, Mona went to see her. When she did she told her that she made the plan to fake his death in order to break her and then told her that he's really alive. In order for her to see him though she had to join the _A_ team.

"You…what?"

"It was a complicated situation, Jessie."

"You joined the team and then didn't tell any of us?"

"I had to make it believable."

"And how did you do that?"

"By making it seem like I wasn't on your side anymore." She looks at Aria with a sad look, "I had to break Ezra and Aria up."

"You did what?"

"And she kidnapped Malcolm." Aria adds. "Don't forget that." She looks a little pissed.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"I was desperate."

"Desperate?" I watch her for a second, "So desperate that you couldn't even let me know he was alive?"

"I wasn't allowed to."

"Spencer. I've had nightmares of seeing Toby dead at that campsite. I told you about them. And you couldn't tell me because you listened to freaking Mona?"

She gives me a sad look, "Jessie, I'm sorry." She inhales, "But now I know that he joined the team to protect me. He found out that Mona isn't in charge of the team anymore. It's the person we've been seeing around town in a red coat. Only Mona knows who it is though."

"You've seen Toby?" Emily asks.

Spencer looks at her and nods, "Last night." Her face lights up, I haven't seen her like that in a long time. "He's always been on our side. But this party tomorrow is a setup. Red coat just wants us all to be together."

"Why?" Aria asks, "What is she going to do to us?"

"I don't know. But we aren't going to let it happen." She looks at all of us, "Okay? Whatever it is we are one step ahead of her finally and there are two of us on the inside."

"And when were you going to clue us in on your double agent status, Nakita?" Hanna asks a bit angry.

"I'm the one who sent you that picture of me and Ali." She says. "You did exactly what I needed you to do, because Mona watches my every move. You found a way to get to me without her knowing about it."

"What picture?" I ask.

"Hanna was babysitting Malcolm last night and he was using her phone." Aria says.

"When he saw it he recognized Spencer and said she was who took him to the carnival." Hanna adds.

"So instead of red coat waiting for us tomorrow." Emily starts, "We'll be waiting for her."

"And if we are lucky this will all be over with." Aria says.

"Luck won't have anything to do with it." Spencer gets in.

I look at all of them, completely thinking this is nuts. "I still don't know if I can make it."

They all look at me, "Okay." Spencer says, "But keep in mind that even if you don't make it there that red coat may still target you. It would be easier to figure this out and help each other together, but if you can't you have to watch your back at all times."

I take a deep breath, "I'll try to be there. But I can't make promises."

She nods, "I know."


	34. Chapter 34

**Hey everyone! Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not take credit for PLL.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform own.**

* * *

When we walk into English class the next day Aunt Ella is absent. So of course we are going to end up with a sub and I always dread it. We never know if we are going to get a young or old sub that will be nice or cranky. To our surprise it's no one other than Ezra.

Aria is too busy reading a book she has in her hands to notice though. Today she's sitting behind me because sometimes kids tend to switch around their seats when others are late or absent, so I somehow ended up in Aria's regular seat while she ends up next to Emily, who is sitting in my old seat from last year. Then Spencer is in her old seat in the very front of the class, while Hanna is sitting in between me and Mona, both of them also in their old seats from last year. It doesn't phase me as much to see Mona, but I still hate that she is in my classes.

When I turn around to Aria, I kind of tap her book a few times with my finger. She looks up at me and I give her a look. "What?" I point with my thumb over to him and her face drops a little.

"Alright, good morning." He says, making me turn back to him. "My name is Mr. Fitz, and I'm back as your substitute teacher." He looks at the desk and flips through a book. "If you could open up to chapter one we'll find out why Hemingway said _All things truly wicked start from innocence_." He slightly smiles at us and then his eyes land on Aria. I can feel the awkwardness building. It feels like trying to break through ice.

After school I sadly can't get out of my basketball commitment as I end up having that game after all. Luckily it's a home game rather than away, so I may just be cutting it close to making it to the lodge. None of the girls bother to come since they have to plan and make sure they actually get there. Considering that this new person stalking them had been after them first, I'm sure the _A_ team rather them for sure be there than me. I mean, they could always take care of me some other time if ever needed. Which I'm hoping that isn't the case on why they are going to this place.

The game is pretty intense all the way to the end, but we end up losing it by two points. My mind was so distracted that I jumped for a three in the last few seconds and wound up missing. If you know me I rarely ever miss a three point shot and this shocks everyone to see it happen, but no one besides me blames me for losing today. I'm so bummed as I walk into the shower that I stick my head under the shower for a good ten minutes. I have my hand up against the wall in front me, looking at the shower floor the whole time. I feel like an idiot for missing that important shot.

When I get home Aria isn't here because her and Emily were supposed to meet at Hanna's. But she was nice enough to leave out a dress that Spencer said might fit me since she is the closest to my height. I knew the plan enough that I wouldn't be in this dress for long, so as long as it reaches my knees I have no problem putting it on. I just need to play along in case Mona is recording me or something. So I go to dry my hair as fast as I can to put it in a ponytail, slip on the light blue dress that actually goes below my knees, and put on flats. Then I go downstairs and get into my car, turning on my GPS to get to the lodge from here.

I call Spencer and let her know that I'm on my way. I'm running seriously late, but the girls had planned to be late anyway, so I have some time to get there. After talking to her I call Aria.

"Hey." She says, "Where are you?"

"I'm in my car, heading over to the lodge now. Where are you?"

"Not far from the lodge. Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes away? Let us know when you get there okay?"

"Sure thing. I pretty much just left, I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Drive safe, so not too fast."

"Of course. And you guys be safe. I'll see you soon."

It takes a little more than I thought to get there as my GPS seems to lose signal and I get lost. So I have to park the car for a minute and try my GPS again, hoping that it'll pick something up. Luckily it does and when I notice how close I actually am I decide to leave my car here and get out of this dress. So I slip on my black sweatpants I had left in my trunk with a black t-shirt, dark blue North Face jacket and my black hightop sneakers. The girls said to wear dark clothing, so this is what I have. Then I text Aria to let her know I'm close by and grab a flashlight so I can start to walk towards where the GPS on my phone is telling me to go.

It's about a three to four minute walk from my car to where the lodge is, so I try to fast pace myself to get there. About a minute into the walk someone shoves me into one of the trees beside me, hitting my arm. "Ow!"

A hand grabs my other arm and turns me to them. When I look up to someone in a hoodie I hear a gasp, "Jessie." The voice sounds familiar and this person puts down the hood.

My mouth drops as I look into the barely noticeable blue eyes of, "Toby!"

"Shh." He says, looking around us. "What are you doing out here? I thought you would be inside already."

"I…I got lost getting here." I can't even grasp the fact that I am seeing him right now. So the only thing I can think of is to punch him in the stomach."You asshole! Making me think you were dead."

He hunches over for a second from the punch and then straightens up, smiling at me. "I've missed you too."

I fling my arms around his body and squeeze, "I hate you."

He laughs as he hugs me back, "Yea, I hate you too." He lets go. "Look, I'm in the middle of doing something for Mona…or so she thinks. Spencer is somewhere in the woods seeing if she can get to red coat first. So you need to get to the others to corner Mona."

I look up at him, "You need to be careful though. If you actually die this time I'm going to kill you when I get into the afterlife."

He laughs and hugs me, "I so missed your sense of humor."

I close my eyes to the great feeling of having him here and then look up, "Alright, alright." I push away from him, "That's enough of the mushiness. Now it's time to get serious."

He smiles, "I'll see you soon." He puts his hood back up.

Seeing that makes me flash back to when Mona had it on from the night she kidnapped me. But I try not to let that get to me as I just smile, "Yea, better be very soon." Then I walk off the other way.

When my GPS seems to go crazy and not showing me how far I am after a couple minutes of walking, I start to panic. If I can't get to the lodge and I can't get my phone's GPS to work then now I'm lost. But instead of thinking negative I continue to walk the path, eventually noticing something orange shining through the trees next to me. This means that I'm really close to something, so I take off running to it and see that it's the lodge. But it's up in flames.

My heart races as I stop in my tracks, not knowing what to do for a split second. "Aria!" my breathing starts to pick up and I look around, seeing if anyone is near. "Spencer!" No answer. "Em! Hanna!" Nothing, I hear nothing. I see nothing. Did red coat get here already and did this?

I look back at the lodge and get that thought out of my head as I stupidly run towards the place. I run to the front door and see that it is up in flames, so I can't go through there. I run around to another set of doors not too far away and see that those are surrounded by fire too. Now I'm starting to really panic as I can hear the girls yelling from inside. So I try the next door I see and somehow the flames haven't reached this part of the house yet as I throw open the doors and haul ass inside.

"Guys!" I hear them yelling and the sound of coughing but I can't tell from where. "Guys!"

"Jessie!" I hear Hanna yell.

"Hanna!" I try to follow where I hear her voice and come to a wall of fire in my way, so I try to backtrack and realize there is another wall of fire behind me now.

I start to cough from the smoke getting into my lungs. Sweat is dripping down my face as I try to squint over at what looks like a flame free path to another part of the house. I run that way and just make out a hallway that seems clear, so I run to it. Just as I'm getting there I hear a cracking sound from somewhere behind me. My eyes are a little out of focus now from all the smoke getting to me but I turn in time to notice something falling forward from the wall down to me. I don't react fast enough though as this thing falls on me.

Luckily I didn't hit my head as I crash to the floor and am still conscious to see that what fell is a long, kind of heavy, wooden bookshelf. The books fall and scatter around me, but the shelf has me pinned under it on my back, making it hard to breathe and one side starts to catch fire.

"Help!" I yell and then cough. "Someone help!" My lungs are burning from the smoke and I can see the fire getting to me now. "Oh my God."

I put my hands on the top part of the shelf and try to push this off of me as hard as I can. I'm feeling too weak so I can't lift it up enough for me to get out as it slams onto my stomach again when I drop it. My eyes are dimming out for a second and I can barely breathe from the shelf and all the smoke.

I start to cough again, _I'm going to die here._ Is all I can think as I put my hands on the shelf again and try one more time to lift the shelf off. This time the flame from the shelf burns my hand and I drop it in pain, but somehow it ends up being thrown beside me instead of slamming into me again. This confuses me until I see someone in red and lifts me off the floor.

Whoever this is puts my arm around their neck and carries me through the burning lodge. I'm practically tripping over my own feet and coughing so bad that I feel like I'm going to throw up. But this person keeps me standing and helps me outside, the fresh air starts to clean out my lungs at once and I can just make out four other bodies laying on their backs when we get to the front of the lodge. I think of the worst as this person finally sets me down next to Hanna and I just sit there completely out of breath as I cough and gasp for air.

I'm holding onto my stomach in pain as I look back to the person who carried me out, my vision coming back stronger. I see a red coat with long blond hair coming out of the hood. This person is hunched over, looking down at Hanna and then looks at me.

"Alison?" She straightens up, her face going into scared mode and then takes off into the woods. "Wait!"

"Jessie." I turn to my left and see Mona get up from the ground on the other end of the group of bodies and walks closer. "Jessie, did you see her? Ali?"

I don't really know how to answer that, but I nod. "I...I think so."

Her eyes bug out and she takes off to where we saw her run to. "Mona!" I turn to the side when I hear coughing and see the other girls start to stir and sit up. "Oh thank God."

They all turn to me at the same time, "Jessie?" I hear Aria say from the three of them.

"What the hell happened?"

Hanna shakes her head, "We aren't sure."

Then without warning Aria jumps over Hanna's legs and tackles herself into me, "Mmm." I groan in pain when she hits into my stomach. "Easy, Ria."

"Are you okay?" She still has her arms wrapped around my neck as she asks that.

I shake my head, "I got here when the place was on fire." She let's go and looks at me as I continue. "I tried looking for you guys but the flames were too much for me to handle when I got inside. A shelf landed on me." I unzip my jacket and lift up my shirt to check where the wood fell on me, it looks bruised.

"Shit Jessie, your hand." Emily says when she sits beside me.

I look at my right hand and see that from the side of my pinky and going down the side of my hand is bubbly and red. I didn't even notice the pain till I move it. "Ow…ay! That really stings."

"Did anyone besides Jessie see her?" Mona's voice comes as she runs out of the woods and kneels in front of us.

They all look at her and then me, "See who?" Emily asks

"Alison." We both say.

"She pulled me out of there." Mona says, "She pulled us all out."

"No, you're hallucinating." Aria tells us.

"She was here, I swear it." Mona tells her.

"She was." I say and they all look at me. "I wasn't unconscious when she helped me out. I saw her from the minute she helped pull off that shelf on me, all the way till she set me down next to Hanna and made sure you were all alright. Then she took off in there when I noticed it was her." I point to where she ran.

They all watch me. Em and Aria more in concern because they probably think I'm crazy. Obviously Mona saw her and believes me, but Hanna seems confused. Then they look around them for a second, seeming to check if anyone is around.

"You breathed in too much smoke." Aria says when she looks back at me.

"Ali's dead." Emily adds, looking at both me and Mona.

Then Hanna blurts out, "I saw her too."

"So did I." Spencer rushes out of nowhere from the woods and ends up next to us. "Ali is red coat."

For a few seconds we don't say anything, all of us watching each other in shock. Then Aria and Emily help me to my feet. "Mm." a shooting pain comes to my stomach when I move.

"I think you should get checked out." Spencer says to me, "You look like you're in a lot of pain."

I shake my head, "I'm fine."

"Don't be stubborn, Jessie." Mona tells me from beside Spencer in front of me.

I look at her, for a second lost for words. "Mona. You have no right to tell me what to do after all the shit you put me through."

"For once in your life I think you should stop arguing and listen to someone when they are trying to help."

I stare at her for a few seconds, trying to gather my thoughts. She's wearing her black hoodie and seeing her in it swarms my brain with memories of that night. " _You ruined my plans you know._ _Stop whining! Jessie, shut up!_ " The sound of tape ripping and the look on her face every time I did something wrong or made it seem like she was enjoying the torture she put me through. " _I have a surprise for you. You're going to love it_." The spider crawling on me, the lack of breath I had when she tried to suffocate me in tape. The look on Aria's and the others faces when they found me in the back of her car, thinking I was going to die.

Coming back from all that at once makes me breathe a little heavy, but I slowly nod to make it seem like I actually cared for what she just told me. "Can I tell you something?"

She watches me for a second and then nods, "Sure."

I smile a bit and then don't hesitate to punch her in the jaw with my burnt hand. It hurts like hell, and so does my stomach from the sudden movement but I ignore it and manage to hit hard enough to make her fall to the floor. "That's for kidnapping me!"

"Jessie!" They all yell and Emily grabs me because I'm about to go after her again.

"Get off me!" I try to get away from her.

She pulls me towards her car, "Jessie, stop."

"She deserves worse than that, Em!"

"I know. But you need to relax." We get to her car. "And you do need to get checked out."

I look at Mona in anger as Hanna helps her off the ground, then turn back to Em and take a breath to calm down. "I can handle these injuries. It's not the first time."

She watches me for a second, "If you say so. But you can't drive yourself with that hand."

The adrenaline is quickly leaving me now so I have to lean up against her car as she is still holding me. Seeming more for support so I don't collapse rather than because she doesn't want me to attack Mona again. "Then one of you come with me. But Mona is not allowed in my car."

In the end Aria agrees to drive my car while Mona, Hanna and Spencer go with Emily. Before going anywhere though Emily grabs a first aid kit from her trunk and medicates my burn, covering it up in gauze after so it doesn't get infected. While she is helping me the others are walking around the cabin, checking for any evidence of who could have set it on fire, it seems like it takes them five to ten minutes to do this. Then it takes the girls awhile to convince me to agree to hop in Em's car so that they can take me and Aria to my car, 'cause Mona is obviously there. Once we get inside we decide that we want to talk to each other through the phone incase anything useful is said. So Spencer calls me on my phone, but it's quiet all the way till we get into Rosewood.

"So all of this started when you were in Radley." Spencer's voice comes.

"I made a deal with the devil and she gave me a way in and out of that place." Mona says, "At first it was fun…having a partner. But then the game changed. She stole you from me."

I mute my phone as they keep talking, "Is she serious?" I turn to Aria. "The fact she made this a game and acts like you are her puppets or something. She did deserve that punch to the face."

"Jessie, she was in the mental hospital for a reason. What are you expecting from her?"

Just as I'm about to say more Mona tells Emily that she was at the cemetery the night Em was, but that she didn't drug her. She did see red coat though, and the reason she doesn't know who she is is because that night red coat was wearing an Ali mask.

"That's creepy." I say when I unmute it.

"That's probably what happened tonight." Aria says, "It wasn't Ali, it was a mask."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, then Emily says. "Guys." But that's it, so now I'm confused.

"What?" both me and Aria say.

"What is that?" Hanna gets in.

"What's…" I stop what I'm going to say when I notice a flashing light coming from in front of their car, the dark making the light bright enough to blind me a bit.

"Somebody pulled it out of the lake." Aria says, terror in her voice.

"Pulled what out of the lake?"

She looks at me as she pulls over behind Emily, "Wilden's car."

I watch the others get out of Emily's car and walk to it, then turn to her. "What?"

She grabs my phone and ends the call. "It's a long story, but Hanna's mom ran over Wilden a week ago when he tried to hurt her and she thought she killed him. So when they didn't see him around for awhile and the car showed up in Hanna's garage because of _A_ we sunk it in the lake."

My eyebrows go up, "You did what?"

"Hanna talked me into it."

"But you sunk a cop's car. And I saw Widlen the other day."

"We know. He's been looking for his car." She opens her side and gets out, "Stay here."

"But…"

"Jessie, please okay? You aren't at full strength to move around much on your own."

"Fine."

She slams the door behind her and walks with the others to his car. I watch them look in it for a few minutes. Then they walk over to the trunk and all of them seem to hesitate, including Mona as I hear their phones ring from here. I know exactly what it says as I get a text too, " _You're mine now. Kisses -A_ "

"Oh, son of a bitch."


	35. Chapter 35

**Hey Liars! Happy PLL Day!**

 **What did you all think of the mid season finale today!?**

 **Here's another chapter for you guys. Please review and let me know what you think!**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Long story short from the rest of the night, the girls found a pigs body in Wilden's car when they opened up the trunk. They thought it was going to be something worse but thankfully it wasn't, because seconds after people were walking down the block towards his car and we had to leave. Not right away of course because Mona decided to be Mona and hopped into his car first to grab the video that was recording the day that Hanna's mom ran him over so that she could help. Somehow the video ended up working despite being tossed into the lake, but thankfully she grabs it quick enough to get back into Em's car so that we can all head home.

After what we went through tonight we decide to stay at Spencer's because we all want to stick around each other instead of going home. I had to beg them not to take me to the hospital, not only because it would be hard to figure out what to tell the doctor but because it isn't as bad as it seems. I can take care of it myself, all I need is some ice for my stomach and simple cream medicine like the one Em had in her kit for my hand and it'll be fine. They don't have to send me to a doctor when they are just going to give me the same treatment.

"So you're going to have to miss basketball again aren't you?" Hanna asks as she sits on the cover of the toilet. She had followed me to the bathroom to make sure I was okay.

I look at her as I spread some cream on my hand. "Nah. I can't afford to miss anymore days from basketball after just having off from my eye injury. I mean, I have tomorrow and Sunday off. But after that I'm back to my routine."

"You're out of your mind. Do you see how bad that is? And your stomach is no better."

I wrap my hand back up in clean gauze. "Han, I've been letting _A_ run my life all this time. I can't keep letting _A_ stuff, including injuries I get with this situation, make me miss my favorite sport too. At this rate I'll never get a basketball scholarship."

"You're worried about college when we are going through all this?"

I look at her, she looks a bit worried. "You're telling you're not? I mean, how else are we going to get out of this crazy town if we don't have college to look forward to."

She watches me for a few seconds and then nods, "You're right."

I look in the mirror and see that my face is covered in soot from the smoke. So I turn on the water and start to clean my face off. Then I see her come into the mirror and I half smile, "Your face has soot too."

"How did it feel to hit Mona?"

I turn to her and raise my eyebrows, "Seriously?"

She smiles and nods, "Oh yea. I've been wanting to do that since we found out she was _A_."

I laugh, "It felt amazing actually. Terrifying 'cause I thought she was gonna go all psycho Mona on me and do something back, but it felt great."

We head back downstairs just as Spencer is putting the TV on. Emily is standing next to one of the sofa's near Mona, Spencer is standing in front of the TV in her kitchen, Hanna walks over and stands by Spencer near the opposite sofa from Mona and Em, and then Aria is standing by one of the back doors. I don't want to sit by Mona and I'm feeling too weak to stand anymore, so I grab some ice from the freezer for my stomach and sit over on one of the stools at the island in the kitchen.

Spencer puts the TV on one of the news channels and we watch it for a few minutes until something comes up about the lodge being on fire. "There's a report on the lodge, but nothing on Wilden's car." she says.

"Well I guess a fire trumps dead pig." Hanna says as she walks closer to her.

"You can stop staring out the window, Aria." Mona says, making me look over at her. "The cops aren't coming to arrest us."

Aria turns to her and walks away from the window, "I'm supposed to feel safe just because you say it's all okay now?" she sounds pissed, "After everything you put us through."

"Do you think we'd be sitting here if anyone saw us?"

"Wanna know what I think?" Emily gets in as she's standing beside me now, "I think you're lucky that we aren't beating the crap out of you."

"And I believe you could Emily." She looks away from her to look at me, "But she beat you too it." She rubs her jaw a bit with her thumb.

I watch her for a second and put an evil smile, "And I'd gladly hit you again." I start to get up and walk closer, Emily grabbing my arm to make sure I don't. "After all the scars and bruises you left behind that day I should have done worse than give you a punch to the face."

Mona slightly smiles, and shifts her eyes back to Emily. "You really were the weakest link, Emily." I look at her and see Em give a mean look as she adds, "Look how strong I made you. You should be thanking me."

Emily's anger gets the better of her as she lets go of me, "Okay that's it." She starts to walk to her.

"Em!" Hanna yells.

I look at Aria and she gives me a look, so as quickly as I can I run and grab Em before she can get farther. "You know we all want to take a turn." Aria adds.

"But we won't." Hanna says.

"Oh why not?" I say, getting a little heated at the way she took credit for toughening up Emily. "She tortures us, but when we have her we aren't going to do the same?"

"Jessie." Spencer says, "That will make us just as bad as she is."

"So what? She kidnapped me!"

Emily grabs my hand and makes me look at her, tears building up in my eyes. "We know that."

"And we aren't going to do anything about it?"

"Do your worst, Jessie." Mona says with a smile, "I won't even fight back."

"Shut up, Mona." Aria says, pissed off.

"Right now we need answers." Emily tells me, blocking my view of Mona so I don't attempt anything.

"You like games, right Mona?" Spencer asks, making me look at her. "So lets play one called the third degree."

They start to ask her questions. Like how she got the car out of the lake, which she answers by saying she didn't. That she only put the car in Hanna's garage and it was the last time she saw the car. Then they ask about how Shana and Jenna happen to know each other. Shana is some girl that Emily knows from Paige and they were kind of friends. But apparently Shana has been working with Jenna for awhile to spy on the girls…or us. Her and Jenna have known each other before Jenna came to Rosewood though, the cam from Wilden's car showed those two helping him after he got run over from Hanna's mom. Mona thinks that Shana is in love with Jenna and are both afraid of Melissa. Then she goes on to say that CeCe ended up visiting her in Radley and thought she was Ali because of how drugged up she was and the fact that they look similar to each other. It was sometime before they changed her meds so she doesn't remember what they talked about.

Now this I didn't know about because I'm clearly still not fully in the loop about certain things. Which the whole Wilden's car thing happened to be an example of them still trying to keep me safe. Then again, I did tell them at the time that I didn't want to be involved after the fight I had with Hanna, so I guess they still take that into consideration on some things. But anyway, apparently the girls knew that Lucas was part of the _A_ team at some point and last year Lucas had been the one who gave Emily that massage while Mona was hanging out with Hanna that specific day. That makes more sense, but I so did not see that coming. She must have had something on him, he's too sweet to go to the dark side.

Then she goes on to say that she recruited Toby when he got the job in Bucks County. Which explains why he had been gone a lot last month. To top it off she tells us that she didn't push Ian off the bell tower, but wishes she knew who did. That's the last question I remember as I had been sitting on the floor by the sofa that Aria and Spencer were sitting on and knocked out while they were probably still asking questions.

When I wake up at who knows what time, it's from a loud "Mona's gone!" I open my eyes and see that I ended up laying on the floor next to the same sofa. It looks like they had moved the coffee table closer towards the back door so I wouldn't get hurt. My feet are resting on Emily because she is sleeping up against the sofa too. Difference is she's sitting up rather than laying down.

I'm on my back, so I slowly roll to my side to try to sit up without hurting my stomach when the others start to wake up too. "What do you mean she is gone?"

"I mean she disappeared, Jessie." Hanna says, "Poof!"

"I don't remember falling asleep." Spencer says, looking around in confusion.

Aria grabs my good hand to help me up. "Did she drug us?"

"Wouldn't be the first time." Emily says.

"You guys, she still has that chip." Hanna says.

I pull my feet off of Em and sit up against the sofa now, "The one that makes your mom look guilty of running over a cop?"

She looks at me and nods, "Yes." Then her face goes slack when she looks out the window.

I go to turn around too, but it hurts when I do. "Ow…"

"You okay?" Emily asks as she moves a little closer.

I slowly nod, "Couldn't be better."

The back door slams and Mona walks in. She has a cup holder with coffee cups in one hand and a bag that probably has food in it while holding another coffee cup in her other hand. She is still in her black hoodie and has some black soot on her face. "Oh. Emily, I borrowed your car." We all look at the table in the kitchen and notice it's still there. "Yea, I have my own set."

They all get up, Aria helping me get up from the floor and sits me on the couch, then they get closer. I guess she feels like I'm too weak to go anywhere, which I'm fine with because I don't feel like walking over there anyway. Mona is acting too nice and I don't like it. She is up to something.

"Where were you?" Hanna asks.

"Coffee run." Mona tells her, holding out the cup holder.

"Where else did you go?" Hanna is a little louder as she asks this time.

Mona ignores her and starts to hand out the coffee to each of them, getting all of their orders right. Then she pushes her way through them and sits by me. I move a little towards the armrest, because the last time she was nice enough to get me something to drink she ended up hurting me after.

"French Vanilla coffee with milk and four sugars." She hands it to me.

I look at it for a second, "No thanks."

She slightly smiles, "I'm just trying to be nice. Why are you looking at me like I'm going to hurt you?"

I laugh a little, "Is that a serious question?" she watches me blankly, like she's acting stupid. "I can't believe you, Mona."

She shakes her head a few times, shrugging. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"I don't want you to say anything. I want you to leave us alone." I look at the girls and they seem to be ready to jump her if they have to. Then I turn back to her, "Do you even remember what you did to me? Because you're acting like what you did was no big deal. You put me through _hell_." I take a deep breath, making me wince a little from my bruised stomach. "The last time I was with you I got this." I point to the crowbar scar. "And lets not forget that you tortured me so bad that I still have nightmares about it. You threw a freaking knife at me and got lucky that your aim only hit my ear instead of my face. I mean, do you seriously believe that I'm going to trust you won't hurt me again? Especially since you've still been _A_ all this time."

She gives me a sad look as she puts the coffee in the holder, resting it on her lap. "I'm sorry you feel that way."

"I don't want your apology. I just want all the bad memories you made out of my brain. I want my life back before you ruined it." I get up and head to the stairs, "I'm gonna chill in your room. Is that okay?"

Spencer gives me a sad look but nods, "Yea, Jessie. That's perfectly fine."

"Thanks." I put my foot on the step and then turn back, "And if you don't mind me sitting out from anything else _A_ related for the rest of the day, that be great. I don't think my body can handle anymore."

"Not a problem. If you want us to take you home before we do then we will."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Aria says.

We look at her. "Why?" Hanna asks.

"Because if dad or Mike see her stomach or hand they are going to ask questions."

"You know how many times I've covered up an injury, Ria?"

"Simple ones are easy to cover. But what are you going to possibly tell them about a burn and bruised stomach at the same time? That's not easy to maneuver around, you said so yourself to keep from going to the hospital."

"She's right." Emily says.

"And what do you want me to do? Stay here for the rest of the weekend?"

Spencer nods, "You could. Mom, dad and Melissa are all out of town."

I nod, "I'll take that into consideration."

"Let me know if you are. I'll bring your stuff over later." Aria tells me, "And get some sleep okay?"

"Yea. You look exhausted." Mona adds.

I ball my fists together and ignore her as she is still sitting on the couch. "Let me know if you guys find anything, okay?"

They all nod and I run upstairs. Can you believe Mona? The way she is acting as if everything she has done to us never happened. The nice act she is still trying to pull knowing that she has actually not changed and been doing _A_ stuff even when she was still in Radley. And out of all people to try and be nice to she thinks I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt to give her another chance after how badly she scarred me. She must be on something, because she should know that I won't be giving her any chances for a friendship or being nice to her ever again.

I'll tell you this. I am not able to get some sleep. I'm laying in Spencer's bed with my head pounding from a headache, my stomach in pain every time I move, and my burn stinging. Plus I'm nervous for the girls. Spencer came up to let me know that Mona agreed to take them to wherever her lair is now. Since I don't want to do anything but rest I don't go with them. At this point I think I should have because I'm totally bored.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

My phone is vibrating on the nightstand beside me and I slowly move to get it. I look at the screen and see Toby's name. I haven't seen that name pop up on my phone for awhile and so happy that I am, because I honestly completely forgot he was there last night.

"Hello?"

"Hey!" he practically yells, "You okay?"

"Yea I'm fine. Are you?"

"Yea. I just came back from the lodge. They are cleaning it out, couldn't do much with people around."

"Have you talked to Spencer about what happened last night?"

"Not yet. Haven't had the time to call her."

"Well her and the girls went with Mona to the lair, they wanted to see what she has there."

"Why didn't you go?"

"Uhh…" I forgot I told him I was fine, but I have to tell him. "Well…I kind of got hurt when I ran into the lodge to find them in the fire."

He's silent for a second, "How bad are you hurt?"

"A bookshelf fell on my stomach, so that's bruised. Then my hand got burned."

"So you voluntarily ran into a burning building knowing you could get hurt?"

"The girls were inside, Tobs. I couldn't stand there and do nothing."

"You could have gotten yourself killed along with…wait."

"What?"

"You saved them?"

I'm quiet for a second, "Not exactly."

"What do you mean not exactly? You just told me they are at the lair with Mona. How could you not exactly have saved them if they are all out safe."

"That's a long story better told in person."

"Then I'm coming to you. Where are you?"

"Spencer's, but you…"

"I'm coming over. For one, if you're hurt you shouldn't be by yourself. Also, if red coat is still out there trying to get you and the girls it's really not safe for you to be by yourself."

"But, Toby…"

"Don't argue with me. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

When he gets here I explain everything to him. How when I left him and walked down the road I saw the flames through the trees and came across the lodge on fire. How I looked for a way inside and when I did I didn't think twice but to try and get them out. But in the process I got myself in trouble when I got swarmed by fire and eventually get pinned down by the shelf when I tried to get to a safe area of the house. Then Alison came and saved me and the girls to pull us out. He of course thinks the same as Aria and Em, that I inhaled too much smoke and it made my brain think I saw her, but I know what I saw. Me, Hanna and Mona may have inhaled a lot of smoke but Spencer hadn't been inside when she saw her. Then I explain what happened when we got back to Rosewood. From finding Wilden's car to the girls questioning her practically all night.

"And then this morning she acted all buddy buddy, as if we are friends with her."

He shakes his head, "She's Mona. There's no way to explain her actions."

"Besides to say that she is crazy."

He nods, slightly laughing. "That's a good explanation."

I half smile, shifting my body a little so that I can sit up better. But it hurts when I do. "Mmm."

"You sure it's a good idea not to get that checked?"

"I'm fine. It's nothing I haven't been through before with the sports I play. I've gotten hurt so much I can tell the difference between broken bones and bruises."

"And your hand?"

"Just needs burn cream and it'll heal in no time."

"So now you're a doctor."

"Might as well be. With all the injuries I tend to get I should be an expert."

"Jessie!" Spencer's voice comes from downstairs.

I look at Toby, "That doesn't sound like a good yell of my name does it?"

He shakes his head, "Not really."

We hear her footsteps running up, but it sounds heavy. As if multiple people are stomping. Sure enough it isn't just her, it's Aria too. They both storm in out of breath.

"Jeez, relax. You're running in here like someone died." Me and Toby both laugh a bit, but the looks on their faces aren't good and my face drops. "I was kidding."

"Wilden is dead." Aria says.

"What?" me and Toby say at the same time.

"When we were going to the lair his body was laying motionless on the ground by his car." Spencer tells us.

"But…" my mouth drops a little, "But he wasn't there when we saw his car last night."

"We think _A_ had something to do with it." Aria says.

I slowly nod, "You mean Mona?"

"Jessie, Mona was with us last night."

"But she wasn't this morning when she went on her coffee run while we were sleeping."

"She's a target now too." Spencer says, "All of the stuff she had on her laptop was wiped clean right in front of us. Someone hacked it."

I watch them both for a few seconds, "So you're telling me that Mona really has no control over this situation anymore. That all of our lives are put in someone else's hands and no one knows who it is?"

I look at all three of them and they just nod. No one says anything, because they don't know what to say. I'm really not liking what this whole thing has come to.

"Fantastic."


	36. Chapter 36

**Hey everyone. Here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **For anyone who has been reading this story, thank you. I appreciate it!**

 **I do not own anything Pretty Little Liars related.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Monday morning I wake up to Spencer lightly shaking me awake. I decided to sleep over for the weekend after all to avoid having to explain anything to Uncle Byron, but I can't hide from him forever.

She tells me that Toby is here and offered to make breakfast. So that if I want something that I should come down now. I agree with this, because his cooking is actually pretty good. So I slowly roll out of bed so I don't hurt myself, head to the bathroom, get dressed and then go downstairs.

As soon as I get down there he is just turning off the stove and looks at me, "Hey. Look who's awake."

I slightly smile as I sit at the kitchen island next to Spencer, "Couldn't miss your cooking could I?"

He laughs, "It's a good treat I guess."

"Oh for sure."

He smiles and hands me a plate, "How are your injuries?"

I shrug, "Can't really expect it to get better in two days, so right now it's bothering me."

"He was shot multiple times." Spencer interrupts us.

I look at her, "Who?"

"Wilden." She's reading the paper, "And the place that he was killed was in a different location from where the body was found."

"Well we knew that." I eat a piece of toast that Toby passes to me.

"It says that time of death, thank you…" he gives her one too, "Was between ten and midnight. Which is when we were at the lodge, so we can't use that as an alibi."

"Do you really think we are going to get linked to his death?" I ask.

She gives me a look, "Have you not been paying attention to what _A_ can do?"

"Eat." Toby tells us as he sits across from me but next to her.

"And _A_ knows that they are going to figure out that fire was arsine." She ignores what he says, but looks at him. "And who would believe that we were there and didn't start it."

"You see this?" he says and leans over to grab her fork, holding it up. "It's a fork. You can use it to eat the breakfast your boyfriend just cooked for you."

I look up from my plate and watch her face light up, "I love the way that sounds." She says. "You calling yourself my boyfriend."

"Eat." He tells her again with a bit of a smile.

She starts laughing, "I am." She grabs her fork back from him, "This is perfect." She looks at him, "Not just the food. You being here."

I laugh a little, "You two are such saps."

She smiles, "You're just jealous 'cause my boyfriend is better than yours."

I laugh and nod, "You're totally right. He can't compete with Toby."

They both laugh. Then she turns to him and holds out her cup, "Is there anymore coffee?"

He looks at me and I laugh, "The girl loves her coffee."

He laughs and nods, "I know." he looks at her and sighs, "It goes against my better judgment." He grabs it, "But this is your last cup." Then he gets up.

"Promise." She says, putting her hands up in surrender and grabs the paper again. "So what does _A_ have on us."

Toby's phone rings as I look at her, "Spence. You're making yourself crazy thinking about it." I gulp down some orange juice, "Shut your mind off long enough to eat at least."

She takes a deep breath and starts putting salt on her eggs, "Going through withdraws over heerre." She says playfully to Toby when she sees she hasn't gotten her coffee yet.

I start laughing, "You're too much."

She smiles and looks at him. He has his attention to his phone and looks upset. "Tobs." She says, making his head shoot up from his phone and looks scared, "Hey, is everything okay?"

"Yea, yea. It was just a lead on a new job." He walks closer to her.

She looks up at him and smiles, "Thank you for breakfast." She smiles more, "Boyfriend."

He smiles, leans in and they kiss.

I try to let them have their moment, but then it turns into a bit too long for my comfort. "Yea." I get out, "Thanks, Tobs. Now I can barf it all out from all this cuteness."

They pull away and look at me, "Jessie, shut up." Spencer says laughing.

He leaves and we head upstairs to get our things for school. She tells me that if I want to spend one more night to keep my injuries from Uncle Byron that I can since her parents will be gone for one more day. I take her up on that offer.

Now the good news about school is that not many people notice my hand enough to ask as I keep it in my jacket pocket most of the time when I don't have to write during class. Since I sit in the back in pretty much all my classes it helps too. Then I manage to pretend that I felt sick and go to the nurse, missing Gym most of the period. Using that excuse for basketball? Definitely not gonna work. The bad news is bending down and making sudden movements hurts my stomach, so I have to try to cover up my sudden noises of pain.

Another good yet bad news at the same time is that Ezra is now a permanent teacher at Rosewood High, taking Aunt Ella's spot since she's been sick. But then he'll be getting his own English class when she comes back. Good news because he got his full time job back, bad news is because Aria and him have to see each other even though they broke up. Doesn't make it easy to not be seeing each other when you still have to at school.

Then of course seeing Mona is never number one on my list of good things, but I make the best of it. She tries to get on my good side by saying hello, seeing if I'm okay from the other night, and asking how my day is at lunch. But I kind of blow her off as I do a quick _Hi,_ _I'm fine_ and, _My day's going good_ , then split.

She may all of a sudden be on _A's_ list to destroy her just because _A_ decided to throw her aside and now has no choice but to help us, but that doesn't mean I have to be nice to her. Not even because she showed a video to the girls that makes us know there were actually two people trying to kill Aria on the Halloween train, one being Wilden and the other supposedly being Melissa just before she got hacked. I don't care that now she is on the same boat as us, she started it. Then instead of ending it in Radley she allowed someone to help her and got us all screwed more than we were when this person made themself the team leader.

What makes it worse is the fact that Hanna seems to be all best friends with her again. Like…this girl ran her over with a car last year and drove Spencer so crazy that she ended up in Radley. Why is she acting like nothing happened?

Basketball turns into a total nightmare. Mr. Brooks ends up noticing my bandaged hand of course and I tell him I burned it helping one of my friends cook, got the oil all over me but that I'm fine and doesn't hurt that bad. He wants me to sit out but I refuse. So trying to act like nothing is wrong when in reality I'm dying from the bruise and burn is a mess. Somehow I manage to get through the whole thing as if I'm in top shape. Getting my shots in with almost no problem, letting people bump into me and not making a hurt sound even though I so desperately want to. I don't know how I manage it but I do.

I head back to Spencer's after practice instead of going to the store. She lets me in and makes me put some ice on my stomach and helps me medicate my burn as we hang in her room.

"It doesn't look as bad as the other day." She says as she puts the medicine on.

I watch her spread the medication, wincing a little. "Doesn't look bad, but still hurts like hell."

"You shouldn't have played basketball if you're in this much pain."

I shrug, "I didn't have much of a choice. I can't keep missing practices and games."

She watches me for a second, "Maybe we should stop involving you in everything."

I look at her as she grabs the gauze to wrap it up, "I don't really have a choice anymore, Spence."

She looks at me with sad eyes, "I know."

"Since we have off tomorrow from school 'cause of Wilden's funeral what do you want to do?" I ask.

"Sleep in?"

"You, sleep in? That's almost impossible."

She laughs, "I meant you."

"Oh that's a definite thing."

She smiles, "You look exhausted. Think you should take a nap. I'll wake you up for dinner if you aren't awake." She gets up from her bed and lifts up the covers.

I slowly bring my leg up to my chest and slip under them, "Basketball does that to me."

"I know. I played field hockey. Sports are exhausting."

The next morning happens to be that she wakes me up to tell me that her and the girls are gonna go to the funeral because _A_ put something in the casket. I'm about to get up out of bed when she says that I'm not going, I need to rest. I argue with her of course, saying that if _A_ sent them a text about it to her and the girls then it was meant for me too. Why would I get a text last time and not this time. The weird thing is when I check my phone I have no messages from _A_.

"You didn't delete it right?"

"Of course not."

"Aria did that to me on New Years when I got drunk that night. I was sleeping this time. Promise me you didn't."

"I swear, Jessie. I didn't delete anything. _A_ didn't send you one. Even if they did I'd still tell you to stay here."

"Alright." I slump back onto the pillow. "I'll stay."

"Good." She kisses me on the forehead, "I'll let you know if we find anything okay?"

I nod, "Okay."

She leaves and my first thought is to go to the funeral anyway. But I'm actually more tired than I thought, because when I close my eyes to pretend I'm gonna go back to sleep I actually do end up falling asleep.

When I wake up I'm super pissed at myself for allowing it to happen, but when Spence gets home she explains everything. That they found Hanna's mom's phone in Wilden's casket. Not sure how _A_ got that when her mom has been off in New York for meetings for days now. That there is a new set of detectives investigating not only Wilden's murder, but Garrett's too. That Mona got the text about the casket too and showed up, also getting a text after the funeral about the truth not setting them free or something like that. Then she goes on to say that she's suspicious about some lady who ended up over there that was wearing a black vale and didn't show her face. Oh, and that Jenna showed up wearing her sunglasses again and a guy helping her to her seat like Toby used to, as if she is going blind again. It seems I missed a lot.

The following night me and the girls are at the Brew eating some food and talking. Or more like me and three of the girls are eating food and talking. Spencer is more on the lines of being obsessive as she plays with the food and scatters them around the table in a very odd way. I'm sitting next to her as I watch her hands fly around the table, picking around at each of our plates for fries and carrots. Hanna and Em are across the rectangle table from us, and Aria is between Spencer and Hanna at the end. I'm the only one who is really noticing her do this though.

"You okay?" I ask her.

"Fine." She reaches over and grabs a fry from Aria's plate.

"Spencer, what are you doing with my french fries?"

"I'm recreating the geography around the lodge to see if it's even possible that the person who jumped out of the plane could rescue you four from a burning building."

I look at Aria, who slants her eyebrows in confusion. Then I turn back to Spencer, "But you said that you lost red coat in the woods after you saw her. You don't know if she walked or ran, so it won't make a difference pin pointing the distance."

"It does when the landing strip she landed at was way too far away from the lodge to be able to get there on time. It was at least a fifteen minute walk, ten probably if she ran. You all would have been dead by then." Hanna grabs her mozzarella stick from her plate and that makes Spencer freak as she puts her hand up. "Wait. Put down the mozzarella stick."

"It's mine."

"No, it's not." Spencer says as she grabs it away from her, "It's a plane."

"Spencer." Aria says as I try not to laugh, "You can stack all the food that you want, it wasn't Alison."

Hanna and me eye each other for a second, "Wait. Why are you so sure." She says to her.

She turns away from Spencer and looks at Hanna, "Because I went to her funeral…twice."

"We never saw a body." Hanna says.

Aria shakes her head, "Oh please."

While Emily throws up her hands, "We've been through this, okay. You were oxygen deprived."

"They weren't." Hanna points to me and Spencer.

"Jessie was in that building too, Hanna." Emily says.

"But she didn't black out like we did." She looks at us, "You guys saw her right."

Spencer doesn't answer, just watches her like she doesn't know what to say. But I nod. "Hell yea."

"Jessie." Aria says, "Don't encourage her."

"I'm not encouraging anyone. I'm telling you what I saw, and I'm telling you that I wasn't unconscious when I saw her save me. I was even sitting up and looking right at her while she was making sure you guys were alright right beside me on the ground. So when she turned to me I saw her with no problem, it was Alison. How am I going to make that up?"

"Maybe you dropped your glasses."

"Aria, I had my glasses on the whole time. Stop making me sound crazy."

"It did look a lot like Alison." Spencer gets in, "I'm not going to rule it out."

"See?" I say, "And she wasn't anywhere near the smoke."

"So you're saying that her mom is laying out all of her old pillows and toys because she is expecting her return." Aria says.

Yea, you heard right. Alison's mom moved back to Rosewood. Right back into their old house and started putting Alison's stuff in her old room as if nothing ever happened, like she is about to stroll into her room again. I find this extremely weird that as soon as we find out that Alison most likely is alive that her mom comes back to town days later. Does no one else find this creepy?

"It was just one toy…a clown." Emily says casually, as if it was not a weird thing to bring up.

"Oh God, Emily, please not you too." Aria tells her.

"Ria, why is it so hard for you to believe that we saw what we saw?"

She turns to me, "Because she's been dead for four years, Jessie. She didn't get up and walk away from her coffin to rescue us."

I give her a disgusted look, "Ria. Honestly."

"What? That's basically the way you guys are making it sound like happened."

"I was thinking more along the lines that maybe she isn't dead?"

She gives me a warning look, "Jessie, enough."

I look down at my own fries and pick one up, tossing it into my mouth. It gets a bit quiet for a few seconds as Spencer continues to grab our food. She's starting to drive me crazy from taking more of my fries, and I'm just about to tell her that when I notice something moving behind Em and see Mona walking this way.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." She stands beside me and looks around for a second, like someone is following her, then continues. "So I've been thinking a lot about the Alison question."

"Really? I've been thinking a lot about how you put my mom's phone in Wilden's casket." Hanna says and then gets up to stand by Aria.

"Nice." Mona says in a bit of an attitude while the girls start to get up too. "What else do I have to prove to you that we are in this together?" now I start to get up, "I gave you that chip from his dashcam. You were all there when my computer was hacked."

"I wasn't." she looks at me when I say that, "I find it a bit too convenient that it happened when they were there. Covering your boss's tracks by pretending you're on our side?"

"Jessie, seriously, you know me better than that."

"Actually I don't. That's kind of the problem on why I ended up tied up in your lair."

She eyes me for a second, "Are you never going to let that go?"

"And you're supposed to be smart? What kind of question is that?"

She just shakes her head and looks back at the others, "I've cashed in all of my get out of hell free cards. So if you don't believe me and you still think I'm keeping secrets go out there and search that RV for yourselves."

I look at the girls and see that Spencer has a kind of mean face on. Then she looks back at Mona with a curious look.

Mona watches us for a second with a pleading look, then notices the way Spencer is staring at her, "What?"

Spencer shrugs and looks at us, then back at her. "Lead the way, we'll follow."


	37. Chapter 37

**Hello there. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Enjoy and please review!**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

When we get to where Mona has the RV we park behind her car. Hanna and Spencer are in Spencer's car while me, Em and Aria are in Emily's. Mona is driving in front of Spencer's, and we are behind her. Then Mona stops by a spot where there is a locked gate, which is where I'm assuming the RV full of all her _A_ stuff is.

"You sure this is a good idea?" I ask before we get out, "What if she is leading us into a trap?"

"Then there is five of us and one of her." Em says.

"Unless red coat has an army of other people on the team." Aria says.

"That is so not helping my anxiety right now, Ria."

"My bad." She turns around from the passenger's seat and gives me an apologetic look, then gets out of the car.

I look at Em in the driver's seat of her car and she slightly smiles, "Just breathe. We got this." Then she gets out too.

I take a deep breath, "I'm so over my head with these girls." Then I open my door and follow their lead.

Aria and Em start to walk to Hanna and Spencer on the other side of the road. I see that they are by the gate and when I look to the side Mona is just getting out of her car with a flashlight in her hand. I have a really bad feeling about all this. Then my name gets called by Spencer and I turn around, she is waving me over. So I walk closer.

As soon as I get to them a noise comes from somewhere down the road, "What was that." Em asks, her voice a bit high.

"It was a bird, a beaver." Spencer says and looks at her, "Do you need to go wait in the car?"

"Spencer chill. It's creepy out here, we are all jumpy." I say.

Footsteps come from behind us and we turn around, Mona walks over and just passes by all of us as she walks over to the gate. We all look at each other and then follow behind her. Aria looping her arm between mine as she pulls me along with Hanna right beside me. Spencer and Em are behind us talking.

Mona unlocks and pulls open the gate when we get to it. It's longer than I expected it to be so it takes her a few seconds to get it fully open as she pushes it to make it open faster. But when she gets it all the way open there's something missing. Yep, you called it, the RV.

"Oh my God." Mona says, shining the light into the gated area and walking inside. "Oh my God it's gone."

"What do you mean it's gone?" Aria says in a pissed voice.

Mona turns around to us, "This is where I left it." She walks closer, "You saw me Hanna. I haven't been back here since, I swear." She looks at all of us, no one buying that she isn't the one behind this. "Somebody stole it!"

"Somebody?" Spencer says.

"Like you?" I get in, "To make yourself look like a victim?"

"Jessie!" she yells, making me jump and my mind goes back to those same memories from the night she took me. "I didn't do this! Stop putting your two cents into everything I say and do!"

"Leave her alone, Mona." Spencer tells her in a mean tone, looking down at me in concern and then looks away. "You did enough damage for a lifetime to make all of us not trust you."

Aria grabs my arm and pulls me away, noticing that now I'm shaking. "Come here."

My mind is screaming my own name over and over in Mona's voice from that night and I can't stop it. "Don't whine."

She gets me to Em's car and has me get into the passenger's seat. "Hey. It's alright." But it's not alright as I gasp for air, because I can't breathe. "Jessie." She kneels beside me and puts her hand on my knee, "Don't let her get to you."

I grip my sweatpants in pain, my chest hurts. I watch the dashboard go in and out of focus for a few seconds, everything fast pacing in my brain. I take deep breaths as she rubs my back in comfort. Eventually I get back to normal and I look at her.

"You okay?"

I take another deep breath and nod, "Yea, sorry. It's just…"

"The way she yelled at you." She nods and wipes away a tear that runs down my cheek, "I know."

"It wasn't me!" Mona's voice yells and footsteps come.

I turn around in my seat, "Guess they don't believe her either." They are walking back over to the cars.

"Hey." Aria's voice comes as I turn back to her and she smiles, "I'll be right back okay?"

I nod, "Yea."

She rubs my leg and then stands up, closing my door and walks towards the back of the car. She grabs Em before she can get into the car and says something that I can't make out because she is whispering. Whatever she told Em is enough to make her not move as they watch Mona walk past Em's and Spencer's car. I can't see where she went until Spencer pulls out of her parking spot and makes the view clear for me to see that Mona is getting into her car.

I look back at the girls and see they are still watching her, seeming to be making sure she leaves before we do. Then I see a weird flashing of a red light and when I look it's Mona's brake lights going on and off. I get out of the car and look at them over the roof, "What is she doing?"

They both shrug and start to walk towards her car. I don't bother to move, because she is probably just making a scene over not being believed. So I rest my arms over the car door that I never closed and watch them walk over. Then a second later Mona topples out of her car head first when her door flies open and lands on her side.

"Oh my gosh!" I hear Em say as they both run over to her. "Mona!"

"Mona." Aria's voice carries and despite everything she has done to me I close the door and rush over myself.

Em and Aria both get to her before I can even take off at full speed and help her to her feet. She is coughing so bad that it sounds like she isn't even able to catch her breath. Then I see Mona's car drive off, like someone else is in it and turns around towards the girls.

My heart sinks when I see that it is making speed to them, "Guys look out!"

They all turn at the same time towards the car and I watch as Em grabs both Mona and Aria and pulls them to the side of the road, avoiding a collision with the car. Em's voice travels from a pained yell and I just have enough time to jump out of the way from the car as it continues to drive past me.

My still bruised stomach hurts as I made that move, but all this adrenaline doesn't have me stop as I turn and haul ass to them. "You okay!" I come to a fast stop as I almost step on Mona and help her to her feet, doing the same for Aria.

"Yea." Her and Mona say.

But the word, "No." comes from Em as I walk closer to her still lying on the ground.

I bend down and look at her, pain all over her face as I help her sit up. "Where are you hurt?"

She puts her hand on her shoulder and holds it, "I hit it against those rocks." She points behind her.

I look at them and they aren't small rocks either. They look like they are the size of my head. "Can you move it?"

She tries to and screams out in pain, then says, "No. It hurts."

"Okay." I look at Aria, "I need help getting her up."

Mona is the one who walks forward before Aria can even take a step and stands closer to me. "I'll help."

I watch her for a second, but don't argue as I ask her to stand on Em's left side to grab her by that arm so that I can lift her from the back. Her right shoulder is the one messed up and obviously we can't touch it.

Once we get her up we bring her over to her car and sit her in the passenger's seat. "We are taking you to the hospital." I tell her.

She shakes her head, "No. It's not that bad."

"Em, you can't move it."

"No." she shows me that she can, a bit of pain on her face as she tries to hold in what is probably the urge to scream out, "I'm fine. For the second it was just too painful to."

I look at Aria who shrugs and I just go with it. So I close the door behind her and look at Mona. Now that her car is MIA she needs a ride, so Aria tells her to hop in the back. Then she looks at me and asks if I rather drive so I don't have to sit in the back with her.

I debate for a few seconds and shake my hand. "No, I'll take the back. My hand and stomach are still triggered by pain and I don't want to risk your lives by driving."

She nods, "Okay." She looks at Mona in the back. "Don't let her get to you."

I nod, "I got it. Don't worry."

She slightly smiles and then we both get in the car. Me doing everything to ignore that Mona is looking at me by staring out the window as Aria takes off.

The next morning Aria texts me saying that Mona text her letting her know that she found her car dumped in the back of the school and is now too freaked out to drive it around. I don't really know why she decided to reach out to her for that, but whatever. As for the reason why I'm getting a text from Aria in the morning of a school day is because I'm still sleeping over Spencer's. It seems safer here to avoid an adult noticing my injuries than it would at home.

Her parents had gotten home a couple nights ago, but haven't even realized I'm here. I guess it's safe to be able to hide things, but I definitely don't miss them not paying attention. But considering that my burn and stomach seem to be better looking compared to last night I'll be going home tonight. Uncle Byron just thinks that I needed some Spencer time since I don't see her as often as I used to, especially compared to Aria so that's why he thinks I've been over here.

When I get downstairs Spencer is opening up some mail in the kitchen. "Good morning sunshine."

She doesn't say anything and doesn't look at me until I get to where she is at the island. "I didn't get in."

"Get into where?" I ask confused.

She hands me a piece of paper and I look at it. It's a letter from the University of Pennsylvania telling her that they didn't accept her. "Mom and dad are going to be really mad."

I look up at her, "I'm sorry, Spence. But there will be other colleges. Your parents need to realize that not every school is going to accept every smart kid that applies."

"That won't sit well with them, you know that. Especially since I'll be the first Hastings not going to this college." She shifts her eyes away from me, "You head to school. I'm gonna wait for Toby to come get me."

"But I don't have my car."

"Boyfriend?"

I slightly smile, "Oh…right."

She smiles, "Hey. Have you applied to any schools yet?"

"Oh." I shake my head, "Not yet actually. I haven't had much time."

She nods, "I get it. But you really should start as soon as you can." She leans her elbows on the island and looks at her letter, "So you don't end up stuck like me."

I put my hand on her shoulder, "You'll get into school. It's U-Pens lost that they didn't take you."

She looks at me, "Thanks."

"Of course." I look at her letter too, "I do have colleges in mind though."

"Yea?"

I nod, "I was thinking maybe NYU or Kean University."

"So either New York or Jersey?"

I slowly nod, "Turns out I don't want to be that far from home after all."

She slightly smiles, "Hey. At least you got a plan."

I laugh, "If all is lost I'm going to have Hollis as my backup."

She nods, "I think that's a good idea too."

"Hopefully I can get a basketball or softball scholarship out of one of them. Be so much easier."

"Your dream is still to go pro?"

"Hell yea." I laugh.

She smiles, "Which will you choose in the end?"

I shrug, "I'll decide if the time comes."

Saturday the next day I come back from practice with no Aria to be found in the house. I had asked her to come pick me up from the school so we could get some coffee since she was the one who dropped me off but she never answered my calls or texts. This usually has me in a panic but then I remembered that she was at her martial arts class that she decided to take because she is afraid of _A_. I get why she is scared of course, so it's understandable why she wants to teach herself self defense.

I'm more tired than ever from everything that has happened in the last week that I can't deal with anything else but wanting to get some much needed sleep. So that's exactly what I do when I climb into bed without a second thought and pass out. When I wake up again from what sounds like a door slamming it's almost dark now. I got home around twelve and it's now about to be night. I slept for like six hours or more. Talk about being exhausted.

I get up and rub my eyes, turning my lamp on beside me. There are days that I can stand the dark and other times where it scares the hell out of me. I think more recently it has been bothering me since Mona came back from Radley. But I try not to think about her or the fact that I woke up to an almost dark room and get up from my bed. I head to the bathroom and then go downstairs when I'm done. I grab some food from the fridge and get the shit scared out of me when Aria asks if her dad left anything to eat.

I jump so bad that I stub my toe into the bottom of the fridge, "Damn it, Ria."

"Jeez, Jessie. Why so jumpy?"

I turn to her, putting the food on the table and bend down to rub my toe, "Maybe because you snuck up on me? I didn't even know you were home."

"I got home a bit ago." She grabs the Chinese food I set on the table and puts it in the microwave to heat it up. "What have you been up to all this time?"

I sit on the chair at the table, "Sleeping."

"You've been sleeping since you got out of practice?"

I slowly nod, "Mhm."

She gives me a bit of a worried look, "Really?"

I nod again, "Yea."

"So you didn't open the store today?"

I shake my head, "Honestly, I don't have the energy to do anything anymore."

It's quiet for a bit, then the microwave beeps and she grabs the Chinese from it. Then she turns and holds out her hand, "Lets go talk in the family room okay?"

I grab it, "Sure."

We talk for about fifteen minutes. Her telling me about how she saw Mona at the police station after martial arts talking to some cop. She claims it was as a cover-up to eavesdrop on the detectives that were saying something about investigating some place that they think Wilden was when he died. That they think it was a woman because there was high heeled shoe prints left behind. Then she goes on how she went to Spencer's and Hanna showed up with a bird named Tippy that talked. Somehow it sounds exactly like Alison and says the same things Alison did.

"That's not creepy at all." Is all I can say about the bird. "And what the hell is with the name Tippy?"

"I tell you that the bird sounds like Ali and you're worried about why someone named it Tippy?"

I slightly smile, "What can I tell you, my priorities suck."

She laughs, then her face goes slake when she looks behind me towards the window. "There's someone out there."

I turn around and see a shadow, "Don't tell me _A_ is making house calls now."

She gets up and walks to the window, "I doubt it, but maybe I can catch their face."

"Ria!" I whisper.

She slowly creeps open the curtain to the window and then turns to me, fixing up her long black messy hair in her ponytail and then opens the door. "Hi." She says to whoever is at the door.

She opens it up more and from the couch I can see some guy standing there, "Hey. Sorry I showed up at your door. I felt like it was something I should do in person anyway." He hesitates for a second, "Can I come in?"

She doesn't answer right away, looking back at me for a second as I have a confused look and then turns back to him. "Yea, sure."

This guy I have never seen before walks inside and sees me, "Oh, hey."

I slowly stand up, "Um…hi."

"I'm Jake." He stops for a second, "Aria's martial arts instructor."

"Oh." I look at her and see her blushing, "I'm Jessie, Aria's…."

"Sister?" he says, smiling.

I slightly smile and shake my head. The fact that he assumed that when we look nothing alike kind of takes me off guard. "No, best friend actually. But I've known her forever, so basically like my sister."

"That was my second guess." He says, nodding a bit.

Now I feel awkward, "Right…" I look back at her, "I'm gonna go upstairs and start my homework."

"I'll be up in a few." She says.

I look up at him, he's barely taller than me. "Nice to meet you."

He smiles, "Same."

I'll tell you now that I did not get much homework done before Aria is done with that Jake guy and runs upstairs to tell me that Spencer needs us at her house now. Before I go anywhere I ask her why her instructor is giving her a visit and she spills that she accidently kissed him and now he asked her out on a coffee date.

My eyebrows go up. "Well…seems you don't go far from teacher student dating."

She eyes me, "That's not funny."

I slightly smile, "Sorry, my asshole instinct kicked in."

She looks at the pile of homework that is scattered around my bed, "You know what?" she looks back at me, "You don't have to come with me to Spencer's."

"You sure?"

She nods, "Yea. You are so behind on homework that has been piling up all week. It may be Saturday but I think you should try to get something done."

"I can always do it tomorrow. I don't have practice on Sundays."

"No, no do some now. If you keep falling behind on your homework you won't get good grades and you can kiss your sports goodbye."

I nod, "That's a good point."

"Let us deal with _A_ stuff for awhile."

I shake my head, "Hell no, if it's serious I'm gonna be there."

"Okay." She raises her hands and puts them on my arms to keep me from getting up, "But this didn't seem that urgent. So just relax."

I watch her for a second and then nod, "Fine."

"Good." She gets up, "If it's major I'll call you."


	38. Chapter 38

**Hey Liars! Here's another chapter for you.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Hope you enjoy. Please review!**

* * *

I walk into the Brew one day after practice and the first thing I notice is Aunt Ella sitting with her new boyfriend named Zack. They've been dating for awhile now, but did I mention he's a good ten years younger than her? Yea, talk about changing your way of dating once you get divorced. But she seems extremely happy, so I can't really complain. It's been awhile since I've seen her like this and as much as it still sucks that her and Uncle Byron aren't together I won't be the one to bring her down.

I slightly smile at her and him as they talk and laugh on the couch. He's actually the owner of the Brew, so he has some baked cookies there for her as they talk. From there I walk towards the back and notice that the girls are here, looking through a bucket with toys or something in them. I don't make it to them though because I see Andrew sitting alone at one of the tables and it stops me. I debate for a few seconds whether to go to him, then I suck it up and go. I haven't talked to him since the day I found him half naked in Spencer's house. If I forgave her I can't hold it against him.

"Hey." I say when I get to the table.

He slowly looks up from his book, his face dropping a bit. "Jessie."

I smile a bit, trying not to make it awkward. "How are you?"

His mouth is slightly open, then he closes it. "I'm…I'm good." He nods his head and smiles a little. "How are you?"

I nod, "I'm good too."

"Good…good." It gets awkwardly quiet, then he blurts out. "I'm so sorry about what happened that day."

I shake my head, "No, Andrew…"

"It wasn't what you thought. I swear."

"I know." I raise my hands to calm him down, "I know. Spencer explained."

He inhales deeply and nods, "Good. I wanted to tell you but…"

"I wouldn't talk to you." I give an apologetic look, "I jumped to conclusions."

He shakes his head, "No, actually you didn't. The way it looked wasn't good."

Now I shake my head, "No, Andrew. It was wrong of me to even react the way I did. We are not dating anymore. Not only that but I'm with someone else."

He slightly smiles, "Maybe, but I know that wasn't easy to see. So I get why you did."

I hear people talking from behind me and see that Spencer is talking to Melissa. She has been in Washington D.C. for interviews for a job or something, which I actually totally forgot she wasn't in town for awhile. That's how much I pay attention.

"I gotta go."

I turn to Andrew as he gets up, skyrocketing my height by inches as always. "Oh. Okay."

He smiles a bit at me, "It was nice talking to you."

I nod, "Yea. You too."

He goes to walk, but then stops. "Can I get a hug?"

I slightly smile, "Of course."

He gets closer and I wrap my arms around his back. The familiar sensation I always get with him swarming my body. I definitely missed him.

He lets go and looks down at me, "I'll see you at school."

I smile and nod, "For sure."

He leaves and I sit down at the table he left empty. My mind going crazy as it thinks too much for comfort. What does it think about? Everything. Why? I have no idea. It just races so much that I can't keep up. My parents and Jeff pop up, how I wish that things had been different with Andrew, then feeling bad that I thought that because of Blake. How my life is insanely too complicated because of all the drama and anyone who gets close to me could be doomed. My brain is basically as messed up as my life.

I'm blankly staring at the table when I hear my name being called from far away. But I hear it enough to look up and see that Aria and Aunt Ella are both looking me.

"You okay?" Aria asks concerned.

"Oh." I slightly smile, "Yea, sorry." I stand up, "What's up?"

"Heading home." Aunt Ella says, "Thought I'd give you two a ride after I stop at the bookstore."

The bookstore isn't that far away from the Brew. So we all head over to it as Aunt Ella starts telling us about her conversation with Zack. I don't usually want to hear about her love life with someone that isn't Uncle Byron, or her love life in general, but it catches my attention when she says that Zack is taking a cooking job out of the country and wants her to go with him.

"Really?" I ask.

She looks at me and smiles, just as we get to the bookstore. "Yes."

"Where?" Aria asks.

"In Vienna." She turns away to look at the books on a black spin shelf outside of the store.

Aria stares at me, a bit of shock just like me. "Vienna?" she asks, turning away from me.

"Like…in Austria?" I add, a bit speechless as my mouth drops a bit.

She grabs a book and turns back to us, "That's the one." A slight smile on her face like she doesn't know how to react, looking at both of us.

"Well that's…" I can't really think of a word.

Aria's face becomes more obvious that she is shocked as her mouth drops, and all she can say is. "Wow."

I nod, "Yea."

Aunt Ella smiles a bit, "Well don't sound too surprised."

"No, I'm not surprised. I'm…impressed." She says.

"That's better." Aunt Ella says nodding her head and smiling.

We talk to her a bit more about this, asking if she actually wants to go. She says that for a split second she thought towards saying yes, but it would be for months out there. She just told us that it's not that simple to say yes. Aria getting in that it will be hard being away from someone for almost a year. In which case Aunt Ella just nods and says that it will be. That's the end of the convo as she walks inside to pay for her book and then takes us home.

Aria has a date with this Jake guy, so I make sure that I'm out of the house. I rather not be awkwardly upstairs so I head over to open the store. Eventually Blake passes by to help me with a few things and when we are done I close it up and we hang in his car in front of the store. It's around eleven at night and the plan was to go home and hope that Aria was done with her date, but instead it turns into us listening to the radio, talking a bit (which he seems a bit out of it and I can't figure it out) and then as always making out. Ya know, the usual. Then we head to the back of his car to make out some more.

He runs his hands down my leg and then brings it back up a bit to my pants. He tries to unbutton my jeans but I grab it away and bring his hands back to my upper body. Since I gave him a chance last month we haven't done more than make out. I can tell every time we hook up that he is getting a little more agitated by this, especially since that rumor of me losing it to Andrew. However, he never pushes because he is always respectful of me. Today he seems a bit off though as he puts his hand to unbutton it again.

I pull my lips away from his, "Blake, stop it."

He looks down at me, "Sorry." He says, "Didn't mean to push." He leans back in and kisses me.

I put my hand on the back of his neck and kiss back, his lips making it's way to my neck and kissing it gently. Then I feel him try again as his hands run down from my stomach to my pants. "Blake!" I yell in his ear and that makes him get up, "What the hell?"

"Oh come on, Jessie. You've know me for two years. When are you going to allow me to get farther than kissing you?"

I start to sit up a bit, "How about when I feel comfortable?"

He leans back, sitting on the up part of my legs. "Two years and you don't feel comfortable?"

"No. I'm not the type of girl to just do something because I've known someone for a certain amount of time. We've only been together for less than a month."

"So?"

"So it's the same argument. Just because I've known you for a couple years doesn't mean that not even a month into dating I'm going to allow you to do sexual stuff with me so quickly."

He slowly nods, "Okay." He hesitates. "Do you want to go home?"

I watch him for a second and then shake my head, "No. I want to hang with you. We haven't had alone time in over a week."

He smiles and crawls back to me, "In that case." His face is up close to mine, "Lets continue."

I smile as I feel his breath on my face and bring him down to me. We are doing pretty well of keeping a good pace of this hookup. I feel him put his hand to my neck as he kisses me faster. I don't think anything of it though until he starts to squeeze my neck and I can't breathe.

I turn my head away from his face as my vision starts to fade, I can't talk. So the only thing I can think of is to kick my knee in his private section.

"Ow!"

I cough and gasp for air as I sit up. "What…the…fuck."

His hands are holding onto where I hit him. He's trying to catch his breath himself. "What…was that for!"

"I couldn't…breathe." I take a deep breath.

His eyes widen, "That was the point. It's called a move."

I shake my head, "Well I didn't like it."

He takes a deep breath, "Okay. Sorry."

"Stop saying you're sorry. You know what I'm okay with and what I'm not."

"If we don't experiment then how will we know what else you're going to like?"

I shake my head, "You don't get it."

"Look. I'm sorry. I'll stick to the basics." He leans forward to me.

I shake my head, "No. I want to go home now."

He doesn't stop getting closer, "Jessie, come on."

"No. I'm done. I don't know what's gotten into you but I don't like it." I try to open the door behind me, but he grabs my hand before I can.

"Jessie." He puts his hand on the back of my neck and brings me closer to him. "Chill."

Without thinking about it I push him away and slap him. "Stop! Do you not know what that means?"

He has his hand on his face, rubbing his cheek. Then his eyes are scarily mean looking as his hand goes up and backhands me across the face. "Don't you do shit like that!"

I put my hand to my face, completely shocked and terrified. When I bring my hand down there's blood on it. I look back up and he looks at me a little pissed off. "Blake…"

"I saw you today." His voice sounds mad.

I can feel blood trickling down my cheek, my mouth is half open from shock that he hit me. I mean, I know I did it to him, but he wouldn't listen. "S-Saw me?" I say a bit scared to answer him.

"Don't act stupid."

My heart is pounding hard against my chest, "I don't…"

"With Andrew!" he yells, making me jump. "I saw you talking to him at the Brew."

"He's my friend!" I yell back.

"Yea." He laughs, "A friend who wants nothing more but to get in your pants now that he can't have you."

"Stop being so jealous of someone I'm no longer with."

His eyes narrow, "I bet if you had the chance you'd let him do what he wanted."

I shake my head, now getting really mad myself. "I'm with you! Don't be such an asshole."

That is clearly not the right thing to say as his eyes get even more mean looking, possessed even. He looks so crazed as he moves forward towards me so fast that I don't have time to react. He grabs my legs and slides me down so I'm laying on my back again, grabbing both my hands with his when I go to hit him and pins them against the door above me.

I try to wrestle my hands away from his grip. "Get off!"

He has my hands so tightly against the door that I can't get them out. His body is heavier than mine and has himself positioned on me in a way that I can't move my legs this time. "If you would let him do it then you should have no problem with me, Jessie." He kisses my neck.

"Blake, seriously. Get the hell off me!"

I can see his face through the dark as the light from one of the lamps lights up the back of the car when he lifts his head up. "Just relax." He holds my hands with only one of his now, brings his other hand to my pants and gets it unbuttoned.

"Stop!"

He kisses me on the lips, "It's okay." He unzips them.

"No!" I jerk my body to the side, making him topple over towards the front seat. "Heeelp!"

He sits up a bit, his eyes flaming. "Shut up."

"Blake, get off!"

He leans in and kisses me to keep me from yelling, and I don't hesitate to bite his lip this time. "Fuck!" he sits up fully straight and touches his lip with his fingers.

When he does he ends up letting go of my hands. This gives me time to try to get him off my legs as I sit up and push him, moving my legs as much as I can. "Get off!"

His eyes flame in anger, "You're going to regret that."

I fling my body towards the front seats, hoping someone would see me as I yell, "Someone help!"

He grabs me and lays me onto my back again, forcing his hand over my mouth and pushes down hard, "Be quiet!"

"Mmm!" I start to panic and tears slide down my face. I claw at his hand with one of mine and hit him with the other. "Mmmmm!"

He grabs one of my hands with his free one and forces it under my back, doing the same with the other. I can't move from how heavy he is on my body as he is laying on top of me again. "You're going to enjoy this. Don't fight it." He goes for my pants once again.

"Mmmmm!" I struggle to get my hands free from under me as he turns my head to the side a bit, his hand still on my mouth and kisses my neck. While his other hand starts to inch my pants down. "Mmmmmmmm!"

The sound of a door opening comes from somewhere behind Blake and I feel him get pulled off of me. "What are you doing!" someone yells from outside.

I'm hysterically crying as get my hands out from behind me, then fix my pants as I zip and button it back up. Then I sit up and open the door behind me. I'm shaking really bad as I walk around his car to see what's going on and realize that Blake is getting his ass kicked. I quickly know that the person who is holding him with his arms held back is Wes (who I haven't seen since he slept over), but I can't tell who is actually hitting him until he backs up a bit from punching Blake in the face.

"Ezra." I manage to get out through a sob.

He turns to me, his face in pure anger. "If I ever see you around her again." He looks back at Blake. "I'll kill you."

Wes lets him go and Blake falls to the floor, coughing up blood as he holds onto his stomach in pain. "You assholes."

"You're the asshole." Wes says as he lifts him to his feet and throws him to his car, making his body close the back door when he makes contact. "Leave."

I watch Blake look at me for a few seconds. He has this look like he wants some backup as he wipes away blood that is dripping out of his nose. "I never want to see you again." I cry through the whole sentence, but I get it out.

Blake watches me for a second, "You're a bitch."

Ezra lunges forward, scaring Blake enough to get in his car and drive away. Then he takes out his phone. "I'm calling the cops."

"No, Ezra."

He looks at me, his eyes softening as he brings his hand up and puts it under my chin. "He tried to rape you."He turns my head to the side and looks at my cut. "And he hurt you."

I shake my head, "No, he didn't." I lie. "I'm fine."

"Don't act like that's not what was about to happen, Jessie." Ezra tells me, a sad look in his eyes.

"Do you want to give him the opportunity to try again with you…or someone else?" Wes says. He walks over and puts his hand on my shoulder, "Let us do this for you."

I look into his eyes and see the concerned look in them, then I nod and Ezra dials the number and puts it to his ear. He tells them that he witnessed an attempted rape and would appreciate if they arrested him. I have to tell him Blake's address so that they can go pick him up. "She will. Come to my apartment to get her statement." He tells them where he lives and then hangs up.

"How did you know?" I'm still shaking a little.

"We were walking back from the Brew and heard screaming from the car. When I got to it I was just able to make out your face and realized what was going on." Ezra tells me.

"When he told me it was you I threw open that door so fast you would have thought I was a super hero."

I half laugh and I look at both of them, "Thanks. I owe you." I look at Ezra, "Again."

He half smiles, "You don't deserve any of what you've been through." He puts his arm around me, "I told you I'd always be here to protect you. And that's what I did." He walks me over to his apartment, Wes right behind us.

The cops are there in practically no time as they knock on his door and Ezra lets them in as Wes is cleaning off the blood from my cheek. They ask me a few questions once I tell them what happened and that I want to press charges against him for attempted rape and assault. They write down everything I say and everything Wes says and Ezra says, then take off. I was afraid that Ezra was going to get into trouble for hitting a minor, but then I realized that it was self defense so I wasn't as worried.

I'm lying on the couch ten minutes later with my head resting on Wes's lap curled up in a ball with an icepack to my cheek while watching TV. I'm not really paying attention to it though as I'm completely dazed out. But I do notice that Wes has his arm outstretched on me and can see Ezra watching me in concern from the corner of my eye. He is sitting on the other end of the couch by my feet and is clearly not watching the TV either.

"Jessie." He says softly.

I don't look at him, "Hm?"

"Are you sure you don't want to go home? Aria and your family need to know."

I shake my head, "We took care of it. They don't need to know right away. They'll just worry."

"They have every right to worry." Wes tells me as he rubs my arm with his thumb.

"I'll tell them tomorrow."

"Jessie." Ezra says.

"Ezra, please." I look at him finally, "I just want to sleep off the fact that my boyfriend tried to rape me."

"Ex-boyfriend." Wes says.

I look up at him and half smile, "Yea. Ex-boyfriend."

"I think I should at least let Aria know that you're here."

I look back at Ezra, "No. I'll text her that I'm staying over Tori's." I look back at the TV and take a deep breath, "I appreciate you letting me stay here."

"Always here when you need me."

When I finally fall asleep all I see is Blake on top of me, the look in his eyes as he rushes towards me. The sound of the slap he gave me, the unzipping noise of my pants, the touch of his kiss on my neck and how he kept his hand over my mouth to keep me from yelling. I never thought he'd be that type of person. I don't know what got into him.

I open my eyes the next morning to someone rubbing my arm lightly. For a second everything is blurry as I try to make contact with what is in front of me. When I finally do I realize it's Aria kneeling next to me.

"Hey." She says softly as she slightly smiles at me.

I'm laying on my stomach on the couch, my arm dangling over the edge near a sleeping bag that she is kneeling on. Wes must have slept there. "Hey, Ria." I roll over onto my back and rub my eyes, flinching a little when I accidently touch the part of my cheekbone that has the cut from getting smacked. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" I can hear in her voice that she is trying to hold back tears. "You know Ezra wasn't going to keep this from me for long, even if we aren't on that good of terms right now."

I inhale deeply, I should have known that he would have her here first thing in the morning. "Where is he?" I look around. "And Wes."

"They went to get breakfast."

I look at her, tears forming in her eyes a bit. "So he told you."

A tear slides down her face and she wipes it away. "Not everything you told him. But enough for me to know what almost happened." She watches me for a second, "Why didn't you call me last night?"

For a few seconds I don't say anything as a tear rolls out of my eye. "I was scared."

"Of me?"

I shake my head, wiping away the tear, "Of the whole situation. I just wanted to get through the night without crying."

She gently rubs her thumb on my cut, "How could he do this to you."

I shift my body to sitting on the sofa and she sits beside me, handing me my glasses. "He wanted to do more than kissing, claimed that two years of knowing him and less than a month of dating was enough time."

"That's ridiculous." She sounds a little mad now.

I take a deep breath, "Then he was being a bit aggressive since I wouldn't let him, so I slapped him. After that he got pissed and just started rambling about seeing me with Andrew at the Brew yesterday and he freaked on how I probably would let Andrew do things with me if I had the chance." I shake my head, "The next thing I know he is throwing himself on top of me and…you know."

Her eyes have a bit of mixed emotions. A little bit of pain as she wants to cry and then flames from clear anger. "If I see him he's dead."

"Ezra already took care of him."

"What he did is nothing compared to what I'll do."

I half smile, "Well I'm sure me pressing charges will get him locked up for a bit."

She grabs my hand, "I'm glad you did that."

"I thought against it."

She nods, "Ezra told me. But you did the right thing. A person like that shouldn't get away with something like this."

I look away from her, "I don't know why he did that. He's such a nice guy."

She puts her hand under my chin and faces me to her, "He was showing signs of aggression long before this, Jessie."

"But why would he want to do something like this."

She gets quiet, "I don't know. Something is obviously wrong with him and he couldn't control himself." She wipes a tear out of my eyes, "Or he's been playing you all this time to get what he wants." She has a sad look as she says that.

I shake my head, "That is worse than not being able to help himself. I thought he liked me."

She nods, "I know." she puts her hand up and smoothes my bangs behind my ear. Tears start to slide down my face and she pulls me in for a hug. "I'm sorry."


	39. Chapter 39

**Hey guys. Hope you're enjoying the story.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Leave a review and let me know what you think!**

* * *

Before school Aria gets me home and I have no choice but to tell Uncle Byron. I'll tell you that when he found out he was beyond pissed. He went to the Rouche's house and yelled his ass off at their parents for their son being so disrespectful to me. Both of the triplet's parents denied that their kid could have the heart to do something like that, that I must be a liar. Uncle Byron didn't let that comment make him start a fight but he was definitely not happy about their denial, telling them that they know me. They know that I wouldn't be the type to lie, plus that there was not one, but two witnesses to what he did and a mark where he hit me. Then he stormed out of their house.

After I told him what happened and before he stormed out of our house he told me it was okay if I decided not to go to school, which I take into consideration. Aria goes to school even though she didn't want to, but I told her I'd be fine. Uncle Byron ends up going to work after leaving the triplets house, and Aunt Ella hasn't been told yet. Uncle Byron let me know that he'd tell her when he gets to work. As for Mike, he had left for school early, so he wasn't there. However, he comes back home during lunch. I know for a fact that he found out, because he wouldn't have come home for any other reason.

I had been keeping myself busy by trying to do homework, but my mind kept flashing back to yesterday night and made it hard to concentrate on anything else. I'm kind of glad he came around during lunch, because I'm on the verge of every emotion that he may be able to calm me down.

I throw my math notebook to the side in frustration and he catches it when he walks in through the back door. "Whoa!" he yells.

I look at him, slightly smiling. "Sorry."

He walks closer and sits beside me, handing back my book. He doesn't seem to know what to say at first as he just watches me. His blue eyes are so warm looking that it relaxes me a bit. "Aria told me what happened."

Now I have to look away, because his warm eyes turn a little mad now. I know he wants to rip Blake's head off. "Oh."

"Is he in jail?"

I slowly nod, "They picked him up last night."

"Good." He reaches out and grabs my hand, "So he's safe from me beating the hell out of him."

I slowly look at him again, "I wouldn't let you even if he wasn't."

He opens his mouth, not seeming to know what to say for a second as no words come out. Then he says, "Don't tell me you care about him."

I shake my head, "No. I hate him."

"Then…"

"I wouldn't want you getting in trouble for doing something about it."

"You're the one who got hurt by your boyfriend and you're worried about me getting into trouble for sticking up for you?"

I slightly smile, "You can stick up for me in a nonviolent way. You're basically my little brother, I don't want to see anything happen to you just as much as you don't want to see anything happen to me."

"It's out of love huh?" he smiles, raising his eyebrows in a joking way.

I smile, a true smile for the first time since last night. "Always."

He leans in and hugs me, "I love you too."

After this chat he has me come upstairs to his room, helping me focus a bit by playing some video games for about an hour. Then we both do some homework, me helping when he's stuck. After that I watch him play video games, eventually falling asleep with my head on his lap.

The weird thing is that I don't want sleep in the house for the night. I felt safer at Ezra's place than I do here. I even feel safer being around Mike than I do Aria. Every time she looks at me she has this look like she doesn't know how to act. She hasn't really been able to talk to me, like she's afraid I'm too fragile and will break down. The thing is, I feel like I need to do that, but I haven't been able to. I don't know if I haven't really processed it enough to react more, or if I'm just trying to live my life. Maybe both.

I take another day off the next school day. Why? Well besides that I don't want to deal with everyone looking at me, I'm too afraid to face Luna and Kyle. Not only because seeing them will remind me of Blake, but because I feel like they are going to be so pissed at me for this since they haven't called me or anything, even though it's his fault. Blake is in the town jail until they can set up a trial date, which means that me, Wes and Ezra will all have to testify.

I spent all day hanging in my room, playing video games while Aria and Mike were at school, and Uncle Byron at work. This is the only way to keep the images out of my head while no one is around, because I refused to let anyone stay home. Didn't want them changing their schedules for me.

When everyone gets home Uncle Byron and Aria both tiptoe around the subject the whole day, not wanting to set me off. Even literally tiptoeing in the house because this was the way they handled me after what happened with Mona. At first I appreciate not bringing it up because I don't fully want to talk about it, but then they start acting weird. They seem like they are trying to act normal but the way they are doing it is driving me crazy. Like while eating dinner they give me a "How are you today?" with a worried look, but then by pass it when I answer and have this mixture of "Should we talk about it or not?" look on their faces for the rest of the time, which is kind of pissing me off that they won't talk to me about it. I mean, even though I hate throwing out my feelings, the one time I need someone to talk to they won't do it. But then Mike isn't afraid to be straight forward and every time he does they give him a look.

Then during the night at some point I go to the bathroom, but instead of heading back to my room I walk over to Mike's. It's cracked open so I open it up more and see that it's kind of dark despite the light in the hallway being on, which scares me a little as I leave the door wide open enough to see his bed and walk over.

"Are you okay?" he asks as he sits up in his bed when I wake him up.

I shake my head, "I…I can't sleep."

He leans over and turns on the lamp by his bed, "Do you want to go downstairs and get some water?"

I take a deep breath, shaking my head. "No…I." I take another one, "Can I sleep here?"

He raises his eyebrows. "What?"

"I'm a little scared."

"But Aria is there, Jessie."

I shake my head a few times, "Aria looks at me like I'm glass, Mikey. I don't feel the usual comfort I've always had with her. Not even the way I felt it after Mona took me."

He watches me for a few seconds and then moves over. "Okay. But just for tonight okay?"

I sit next to him, "Yea." Then I lay down beside him.

I feel him kiss me on the back of the head, then he turns off his lamp, I turn a bit and see from the light of the hall that he rolls over to look towards his wall. "Goodnight."

I take a deep breath, watching the hallway light as it shines through to his room. "Night."

The following morning I wake up and head downstairs after I use the bathroom and change for school. I still don't want to go but I know I have to. I stop at the top of the steps when I hear Aria, Mike and Uncle Byron talking. Aria and Uncle Byron found it odd that I was in his room, but once he explains what happened Uncle Byron has an answer that seems to make sense.

"Someone who has been through a traumatic event, like being raped or almost does, can have a sense of having a better connection with some people than others. Even if they never had that full closeness to that person before."

"So she feels safer with me because she feels closer than she used to?

"Maybe your vibe comes off better than ours." He tells him.

"Maybe she feels you won't judge and can protect her?" Aria adds. "If she isn't feeling that with me, then I must be doing something wrong."

I head downstairs and act as if I didn't hear what they said. We all eat some breakfast, trying to act as normal as possible. I see that they seem to be interacting a bit more with me, and I think it's from the chat they just had. Then we head to school. When I step into the school I realize that it's the first time since the car accident that I'm the only person out of the five of us, or six if you count Mona, that is being watched and talked about by everyone as I walk past them.

"Ignore them." Spencer tells me as she loops her arm through mine.

I touch the cut on my cheekbone out of an impulse of everyone noticing me, "I'm going to be known as the girl who got Blake sent to Juvie."

"They may charge him as an adult." She says, looking down at me.

"In which case it remains the same. I'll be known as the girl who got him sent to jail."

"Stop worrying what people think of you." Hanna says from my other side. "He hurt you, tried to do more. If no one was there to stop him he would have. You have no reason to feel bad about it."

"Jessie!" I look down the hall as we are getting to my locker. Andrew is heading over to us and now that he yelled my name everyone else in the hall is watching me.

"Oh great." I say when we get to it, "I so don't need him trying to make me feel better."

"I think of all people you need him." Emily says.

I look at her, the day after she hurt her shoulder she got into a swim accident that made her hit the wall of the pool head first, there's still a slight scar to where she got hurt. Her shoulder is no better. "I need my ex-boyfriend comforting me over another ex-boyfriend trying to rape me?"

"You guys are friends again. It took you awhile to forgive him but you know he'll always be there for you." Aria adds.

"But…"

"Don't say you don't need him." Emily tells me, "Because we all know you do. Including yourself."

"Hey, Jessie." Andrew says when he gets to me.

I side look at him and smile a bit, "Andrew." The girls walk away and stand over by Aria's locker instead as I open up mine.

"I've been meaning to come see you." He tells me.

I slowly nod, switching out books from my locker to my backpack and vise versa. "It's okay. I'm fine."

"Yea of course you are." His voice sounds hurt as he says it. "I just…"

"Want to make sure I'm okay." I turn and look at him, "I know."

He gives me a sad look, "I'm sorry."

I watch him for a second, "For what?" I raise an eyebrow.

"For forcing Blake on you. If it wasn't for me trying to push you away with practically handing you a new boyfriend he wouldn't have…" he can't seem to continue that sentence.

I take a deep breath and smile a bit, "Andrew, it's fine. _I'm_ fine." Not true, but I don't want him blaming himself for something he had no control over. "You didn't force him onto me, I made the decision to date him once I felt comfortable with the idea." I close my locker, "I would have eventually liked him whether you gave him the okay to go for it or not."

He slowly nods, "You…uh." He clears his throat. "Do you want to hang out after school?"

I smile a bit, "I'd love to. But I have a game."

He raises his eyebrows, "You're gonna go to a basketball game after what happened?"

I shrug, "Why not?"

"I just figured…"

"That I'd hide away?"

He shakes his head a bit fast, realizing how it sounded. "No, I didn't…"

I smile, "Chill. I was kidding."

He smiles, but he has this look like he doesn't understand why I'm so calm. In all honesty, neither do I. But I definitely don't want to make a scene here in school. I did that last year after Mona and I felt like an idiot after.

The whole school day is almost too much for me to handle. No one would leave me alone as they would either sympathize with me, or talk about me. I heard someone say that I probably asked for it and then decided to yell rape once I tried to change my mind. That was really hard to hear, that people actually think Blake is the victim of this and I deserved that after everything I've been through.

The hardest part of the day was seeing Luna and Kyle at lunch. They both had mixed looks of wanting to be upset with me and feeling bad at the same time. So when they actually walked over when they saw me at the table with the girls I was surprised that they apologized for Blake's actions.

"It's not your fault."

"But he's our brother." Kyle says, "We should have noticed this side of him."

I shake my head, "He hid it well, 'cause I didn't see it either. I knew he was getting restless with wanting to do more than kiss, and that his temper could get the better of him. Even with the little hints of him being a bit aggressive."

"Like holding onto your arm in a tight way when he was upset." Luna says.

I nod, "Exactly." I had told her about his random outbursts of grabbing my arm and wrist in a way that would hurt the second time it happened. He's only done it a few times, but those should have been the biggest hints, and I ignored them.

After school I have my game, which by this point I absolutely did not want to go to, but I wasn't going to let this bring me down so much that I'd miss more basketball. The problem is that the mixture of people talking about me all day and the random flashes I'd get affected me so bad that most of the girls on the team weren't as sympathetic about the whole situation. Mostly because this not only had me super distracted the whole time, but Luna was too. Neither of us could get our heads straight enough to do our job as I missed almost every shot I made, while she couldn't pay attention enough to block her player. Our shitty playing affected the entire team and we ended up losing by fifteen points.

"Look what you did, Brant." A junior named Emma tells me. "You go get yourself almost raped from Luna's brother and now she can't think straight."

I look over at Luna and see that she practically has the entire team surrounding her from concern by the sinks, looking upset while I'm sitting on the bench by my locker getting no support from anyone else except Tori and Carter. The rest being too worried about Luna to care that I'm getting ambushed by Emma for doing nothing wrong. The fact that I can get through anything without breaking down is a miracle, but they don't seem to realize it.

"You're blaming me for this?" I ask her when I look back up, a bit of hurt in my tone.

"Well…duh. You're the one who had her brother get arrested."

"Emma, don't be a piece of shit." Carter tells her. "Jessie is the one who almost got raped by that brother."

She ignores her, "Do everyone a favor, Jessie."

I look at her for a second, thinking she is gonna elaborate more. When she doesn't I say, "Meaning what?"

"Quit." She says, "Because you haven't been putting effort for this team since the season started. You're too busy getting into trouble with your other friends to care."

"That is not true." I say a little pissed. "I may have been having a few off days lately but I've always given one hundred percent into my game when I'm here."

She slightly smiles, "That's funny."

"Is it?" I stand up now, "Do you want me to make something funny?" I put a lot of force into my voice to scare her.

She laughs, "Wow. The fact you still think you're the tough girl you used to be makes this whole situation laughable."

I cross my arms, Tori and Carter both standing up beside me now. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means, Jessie. That ever since Mona kidnapped you, you haven't been the same person who has a temper and makes everyone scared of you anymore. We thought that was the person we were getting, but instead we got a broken girl who is afraid of her own shadow. You mellowed out way too much to be a captain and that has gotten you too soft as a player."

"I'm not soft." I say in a mad voice, "And I don't need to have a temper to be a freaking captain. I just need to be liked and respected."

"Which no one does!" she yells, making everyone look over to us now. "You are a nice person, nice friend. But to be respected as more than that? It's not happening. You came up from the JV team thinking you could become our captain just because you have a great three point shot and could call it a day?"

I shake my head, "No. That is not what I thought. I knew that you guys wouldn't warm up to me being captain right away."

"And sadly you aren't making a good impression on us. You aren't the tough girl we heard about from last year. You're shooting has become very sloppy and no one takes you seriously enough to do your job!"

Now my temper rises and I walk forward towards her, knocking her back into the set of lockers. "You have no idea what I've been through!"

Carter grabs me and pulls me away, "Jessie. Stop!"

As if it was right on cue to come at the worst possible time, Mr. Brooks walks in. "What the hell is going on in here?"

We all turn to him, me pulling my arm away from Carter. Emma moves away from the locker and straightens up, both of us eye each other.

Before I can think of anything to say, Emma yells. "Jessie is completely incapable of being captain of this team, Coach!" She looks at me, "Her head is not in it anymore. She has too many problems to keep up with us."

He slowly looks from her to me, "She's right."

"But, Coach."

He shakes his head, "Jessie, I'm sorry. But you haven't been pulling your weight lately. It's like you aren't even here when you are. You're mind and heart is not in it. Then you're constantly getting hurt outside of the sport and that makes you less likely to get anything done."

"But…."

"I'm sorry, Jessie. But I've been trying to postpone this decision for awhile. I can't hold it off anymore." He takes a deep breath, "I have to take you off this team."

Emma looks at me with a smile, because if I leave she will get the captain spot. But everyone else gasps in surprise. "What?" I say in shock.

"You need to empty out your locker and give in your uniform." He continues with sadness in his eyes.

"But I need a scholarship to go to college!" I half yell, "Basketball is my number one guarantee for it."

"How are you expecting a scholarship if you can't get your head in the game?"

I shake my head, tears filling in my eyes. "Please, this is all I have to feel sane while my life is a complete mess."

He shakes his head a few times, as if debating his decision. Then he says, "I can't allow you to bring this team down anymore."

My mouth drops as he turns around and walks out of the locker room. Then I turn to Carter and Tori, "That did not just happen."

"Sure did." Emma says, a smile still on her face.

I lunge forward to her again but I get grabbed by both Tori and Carter this time. Emma backs up so fast that she ends up hitting her back against the locker without my help. Then, "Shut your mouth, Emma." Luna says from down the isle of lockers. She walks closer to me and hugs me, "I'm sorry. This is my fault."

I shake my head, "No." I grab my stuff from my locker. "It's mine." Then I storm out of the locker room.

Basically, my life turned upside down in the matter of a few days. Losing my boyfriend from him trying to rape me, me getting kicked off from my favorite sport, then having to hold it together enough not to break down when Aria is waiting for me after the game in her car is the worst. She's so bummed out that we lost that I can't bring myself to tell her what happened. Not until later on when I'm in our room with her as she tries to talk to me about Blake and I end up finally bursting down in tears from everything overwhelming me. She wants to talk to Mr. Brooks for me, get him to reconsider. But I tell her that he wouldn't, that my hopes of getting that scholarship is basically done for.

To top it off, I have to go to a finally set trial for Blake the following day. This makes me miss school and I practically break down trying to explain everything to the judge and jury. When Wes and Ezra tell them what they saw I'm sitting in the back with the girls, Aunt Ella, Mike and Uncle Byron. Doing everything I can to block out what they have to tell them because I can't take it anymore. Luna, Kyle and their parents are sitting on the other end of the room, not even bothering to look at me. Ezra and Aria are still not together, but they sit by each other when me and Wes both get our turn to talk, scooting away from each other when one of us came back to sit down beside them. Me ending up in between Ezra and Mike.

Blake's attorney doesn't allow him to testify, probably because it's not looking good for him. But in the end they don't give the jury any time to find him anything, not guilty or even guilty. Why? Because his lawyer asked for a deal if he pleaded guilty and they gave him only a few months in Juvie because he is a first time offender and promised he'd never do it again. Which totally pisses everyone off and I can't even stay here as I get up and leave the courtroom, crying my eyes out in the bathroom.

Spencer walks inside sometime after letting me digest the news on my own. When she does she walks over and gives me a hug. "I'm sorry."

I shake my head in anger, "If your mom or dad were the ones defending my cause they would have won that. They wouldn't have allowed his lawyer to make a deal."

She nods, "I know." She lets go, "But their boss wouldn't let them get into this type of trial because of bigger cases."

I wipe away a tear that slides down my face, "I hate my life."

She puts her hands on my face and has me look up at her, "Don't say that." My eyes start to water and she pulls me into another hug. I wrap my arms around her back, her head laying on mine as I start to cry. "Please don't say that."

I decide not to leave the house all day. I don't feel safe anymore, or more so than usual with _A_ still lurking around. So I hang in the family room for a few hours with Mike (who so wants to go beat up Blake for what he did) while everyone else is out. Eventually there is a knock on the door and when Mike goes to open it I'm shocked to see Wes standing there. At first Mike refuses to let him in, saying that I need time to process. But I tell him it's alright and he reluctantly allows him to come inside. So Mike grabs his phone from the sofa and leaves the room to give us time to talk. We've kept in a bit of contact since that night.

"I thought you left Rosewood to go home."

He slightly smiles as he sits with me on the sofa, "I was, but I didn't want to leave without making sure you were okay. You were so upset at the courthouse that I didn't want to bother you."

"That was nice of you." I look down at my hands, playing around with fingers.

"Hey." He lifts my chin up to him, "Talk to me?"

I shrug, "I don't know what to say."

"Anything." He pulls his hand away from my face. "Vent. Or tell me something random."

I think for a few seconds, "Did I tell you how grateful I am that you were there that night?"

He nods, "You did."

I half smile, "Oh."

"Did I tell you that I wish I had been the one to beat him up rather than my brother?"

I shake my head, "No. You didn't."

He smiles a bit, "Well, I did. Ezra did a good job giving him that black eye and busted lip. But I think I could have done better."

I slightly smile, "Oh really?"

He nods, "Definitely." He watches me for a second, "I would have broken some bones for sure."

"How…graphic."

He laughs a bit, then gets serious as he shakes his head. "Not as graphic as how I imagined it must have been for you to witness what he was doing."

My mind flashes back to that night, my breathing quickening a bit. "Yea."

For about two hours he just sits here with me. At first we talk a bit about what happened, and about the trial. Then we change the subject once it gets too hard to handle. By the time Mike walks back into the room it's night and Wes decides to call it a night since he has a long ride ahead of him.


	40. Chapter 40

**I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Owned by Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Enjoy and let me know what you think.**

* * *

A couple days later I'm up earlier than I usual am on a school day, but I was having such a hard time getting back to sleep after waking up a good hour before my alarm is supposed to go off that I decide to get up and head over to the store. I do a few things to keep me busy and occupied and then head to school. Instead of taking my car I decided to ride my board, feeling like it would be a better emotion reliever to something familiar yet different since I haven't done it in awhile. When I'm close to the school I bump into Mike, who got a ride from Uncle Byron and got out of the car when he saw me, chasing after me when he does.

"Hey!" Mike yells. "Jessie!"

I stop skating and look to the side, smiling. "Hey, Mikey." I kick my board up to my hands.

He gets beside me, walking at my slow pace. "You're riding your skateboard. It's been months."

"Yea. Needed a change."

He smiles, "Hey. Why weren't you home this morning? You were gone before everyone was even up."

I see Hanna, Aria and Spencer in front of the school. We are in earshot of them just as Aria is getting out, "Take it down a notch." To Hanna in a bit of anger. Hanna looks heated about something as they all continue to talk while we head to the stairs.

I turn away from them and look back at him, "I couldn't sleep." We get to the steps and walk up them. "Was up for like an hour before our alarms were even supposed to go off. So instead of sticking around I went to the store. Did Uncle Byron get the note I left on the counter?"

He nods, "Yea. He's worried about you though."

We get to my locker, "But I'm…"

"Not fine."

I open my locker, "Mikey…"

He puts his hand on my locker door and it makes me look at him, "You've looked dazed most of the time since it happened. How is that being fine?"

"I'm just processing it without freaking out." I take a deep breath, "Is that such a bad thing to do?"

"Well…no." he watches me for a second, "But you're starting to get distant, pushing away. Like you always do when something is seriously bothering you, especially with the girls."

"I'm just tired of them looking at me like they don't want to set me off. I hate being treated like a baby." I look away from him and put stuff in my locker, "Do you want to play basketball after school?"

He doesn't answer, I know he's not liking that I'm avoiding this. Then he sighs and says, "Sure. I'll meet you here after last period." Then he turns and walks away.

Now since the trial the other day I haven't heard anything from Luna, or Kyle. The last time I talked to her was the day I got kicked off the team. Then him was that day at lunch. I don't have any classes with them besides lunch, and it seems that her and Kyle have basically made it their business not to talk to me. I get they are upset with me because I got Blake sent away, but it's not my fault it happened. It's like they completely went bipolar and changed their minds on how they feel about being friends with me. Then everyone on the basketball team except for Tori, Carter and my friends from JV, aren't talking to me. This is a nightmare.

"Maybe you should talk to the JV coach about seeing if she'll put you there?" Andrew asks me when he came over for a chat when he saw me at my locker after school.

I shake my head, leaning up against my locker and kick my leg up to rest my foot on the bottom locker behind me. "If I got kicked off the varsity team for lack of effort I'm not going to get a chance on the JV team."

"This is completely unfair of Mr. Brooks to do that to you." Hanna's voice comes out of nowhere as the girls walk over to us.

I look over at her, "It's my own fault." I shrug.

"How is this your fault?" Andrew asks.

"My head hasn't been into basketball all season." I think for a second, because I can't exactly tell him why I've been distracted. "It's just been a hectic year, and I should have been kicked off a long time ago."

"But you've been through a lot since you got into that car accident." Andrew says, "Especially after what happened with Mona. It's not easy to get back into the same state of mind you had last year after that."

"It's a sport, Andrew. It doesn't matter what I'm going through or have gone through, my focus is supposed to be on that. I can't keep using my past struggles as an excuse on why I'm not able to put enough effort into something I love." I look at him, "You play too. You know this."

He slowly nods, then looks over to the side when he hears someone yell his name. "I gotta talk to Billy." He turns to me, "I'll see you around." He kisses me on the cheek and walks away.

I smile, feeling my face burn up a bit. I try to ignore the fact that the girls are watching me with smiles as I look away, noticing Mike walking this way and then stops at his locker.

"I gotta go." I say, looking back at them. They all give me a serious look as they look at each other, "What?"

"Why are you avoiding us?" Emily asks.

I slant my eyebrows, "I'm not."

"Yes you are." Spencer gets in, "You've been doing it since the trial."

"I'm not avoiding you. I'm just busy."

"Even during school?" Hanna asks. "You didn't even sit with us today at lunch. You sat with Mike."

"And you barely talked to us in class." Spencer adds.

I shake my head, shrugging a bit. "I…"

"Jessie, you ready?" Mike's voice comes when he gets to us.

I look at him and nod, "Yea."

"Where you going?" Aria asks.

"Gonna shoot some hoops at the park." Mike tells her. He looks at me cautiously, "I think knocking me around a bit will be emotionally healthy for her right now."

I roll my eyes, "Oh for the love of God. You guys need to stop treating me like I'm going to explode. I'm…"

"If you say you're fine one more time, Jessie." Aria says, " _I'm_ going to explode."

I watch them all for a few seconds, then walk away. I don't feel like dealing with this right now.

Mike eventually catches up with me and doesn't bring up what happened. We head to the store before the park so that we can grab a basketball since neither of us brought our own. When I get to the front door to unlock it someone taps my shoulder from behind. I turn around, expecting it to be Mike but instead I see a guy a few inches taller than me in a suit.

"Jessie Brant?" he asks me.

I turn my body fully to him, confusion on my face as I look at Mike, who is giving me the same look and then nod. "Yea?"

"I'm Detective Holbrook." He takes out his badge from inside his jacket pocket and shows me. It's the FBI investigator that the girls were telling me came around with his partner. "Do you mind if we talk?"

"Oh." My heart races a bit, which is stupid because it has to do with Wilden. I had no history with him and I don't know what happened to him. "Sure. Umm…would you like to come inside?"

He looks at the store, "This is your place?"

I nod, "I inherited it from my parents when they died."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Then he shakes his head, "We can talk out here if you don't mind."

"Because I'm a minor?"

"Partly, yes." He looks at Mike and then back to me, "I would recommend talking alone."

I agree, asking Mike to grab a basketball from inside and to wait for me to come get him. Then for a few minutes I talk to the detective about Wilden. How I knew him, where I've seen him, did we ever have interactions. All my answers being that I knew him because he was a cop in town and he was investigating the murder of Alison, that I've seen him around town whenever he wasn't at the police station, and that I had a run in with him once.

"What did you guys talk about?" he asks.

"My friends."

"The four girls who knew Alison DiLaurentis?"

I nod, "Yea."

"Was he harassing you as well as them?"

I shake my head, "No, just them."

He slowly nods, "So you wouldn't happen to know who would want to kill him?"

Of course the first thing that pops into my head is _A_ , but I can't exactly tell him that. So I shake my head, "No."

"Not even your friends?"

I watch him for a second, "Detective, my friends were being followed practically all the time by him because he wasn't convinced that they didn't know what happened to Alison. It was like he was obsessed. But they aren't murderers."

He nods and then smiles, "Okay. Well…thank you for your help." He reaches out his hand.

I smile a bit and shake his hand back, "You're welcome."

He smiles, nods and then leaves. God I hate cops.

After a bit of basketball I went home to shower and then headed back to the store to get a few things done. I didn't plan on falling asleep on Toby's couch after I closed up. It kind of just happened. One minute I'm not in the mood to head home, so I asked him if he was home so we can hang out (which he wasn't but said I could use his place to relax and told me where the extra key was), then the next I decided to look through some homework and ended up knocking out, my nightmares swarming my dreams as it always has. The difference is that Blake is in the mix now. If I could have one wish besides to have mom, dad and Jeff back, it would be to never have nightmares or bad memories again.

Thankfully I'm woken up by a phone call at around nine at night when my phone rings in my pocket, my screen flashing Aria's name when I take it out. When I answer it she's in a panic of where I am, because she had been texting and calling me for the last half hour or so. I guess everything that's happened recently with Blake and all the _A_ stuff is making her paranoid. So I tell her where I am but that I'm heading home when she asks if I could come to Spencer's for a meeting.

In all honestly, I'm not up to this _A_ thing. I invested way too much of my time on helping them when I should have been thinking of myself. I have other things to worry about. Like how I'm going to pay for college if I'm not able to get a scholarship. My best sport was basketball, softball wasn't ever as strong of a guarantee than that. I have a lot on my plate for my future and I totally screwed it up.

"Hey. Sorry that I…"

"Avoided my call?" Aria says in an attitude when I call her back during lunch the following day.

"I wasn't…"

"I had to take mom to the hospital." She cuts me off.

My heart sinks, "Is Aunt Ella okay?"

"There was a swarm of bees that ended up in her car. _A_ had something to do with it. She got stung…a lot."

" _What_?"

"I gotta go, I'll text you."

I felt really bad not picking up the first time. I guess all the keeping my distance from the girls the last few days is starting to get taken the wrong way, because I didn't miss the call on purpose.

Later on when she gets home she tells me that Aunt Ella is okay, just some bee stings and medication. After a bit of awkward silence I apologize to her for being the way I have and that even though I want to move past what happened with Blake I won't shove them aside anymore.

That seems to make her happy and then changes the subject, "Did you know that Mike talked to mom about not wanting her to go with Zack?" She asks as she watches me do some homework on my bed.

I look from the report I'm typing on my laptop as she sits on the edge of my bed, "No." I shake my head, "Why would he do that?"

She shrugs, "I don't know. Maybe he's still trying to get attention." She shakes her head in frustration, "But now she doesn't want to go because he told her that."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No!" she half yells, making me jump.

"Aria, chill out."

"I can't." she says, shaking her head. "Mom being out of the country is a good thing for her. She needs to live her life again."

"Or is it because you don't want _A_ targeting her?"

She watches me for a second, "Maybe a bit of both."

"Ria, Mike is younger than us by two years. We are old enough to be okay without an adult figure being around. He's still a kid. He probably doesn't feel comfortable being away from her for so long."

"If he knew…"

"But he doesn't." I say, grabbing her hand to calm her down. "You can't tell him why you want her to go."

"I know that."

I watch her for a second, "Just talk to him."

The next day at work I'm about ready to close up when the ding sound of the bell I have on the door comes to my ears. I look up from the counter and see Andrew walking towards me. He has a slight smile as he gets to me, the look on his face is a bit confusing.

"You okay?" I ask as I turn off the light switch from the wall behind me that controls the lit up _Open_ sign on the window.

He watches me as I walk around the counter, looking up at him in concern. "I feel like I screwed up."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, "Screwed up what?" I walk over to the door now and turn the sign to closed, then turn back to him as he gets closer.

"With us." He says in a sad voice, "I made a mistake breaking up with you."

My heart sinks a little, I had been waiting for him to say that forever. "You…you do?"

He slowly nods, "Yea. But now I can't do anything about it because it's too soon for you to have a boyfriend after what happened."

I half smile, "I agree. Plus…I honestly don't know if we could be us again. As you said awhile ago, the spark is gone. I didn't want to believe it when you said it, but I get it now. We are different people now then we were when we dated, which is okay. I rather have you as a friend than nothing at all."

He watches me for a few seconds, seeming to be speechless. I don't think he was expecting me to finally agree on what we both knew wasn't going to work anymore. Then I give him a light punch to the stomach to make him laugh, the way I used to and ask if he wouldn't mind helping me clean and close up.

Once we are done he walks me home and I find Aria sitting outside the back porch on the swing set, talking on her phone. "You look cold." I tell her as she hangs up.

She half smiles, "A bit."

"What's up?" I sit beside her.

She shrugs, "Spencer and Em are at some college sneaking around for that number that Tippy the bird kept singing."

"Any luck?"

She nods, "Yea. Spencer called from a sorority house from that number."

My eyebrows go up. "Seriously?"

"Yep. And for some reason Hanna ended up over there."

Now I'm confused, "But I thought Hanna didn't care about going college hunting right now?"

"I don't know, Jessie." She stands up, "Come on. We are playing Monopoly, Mike and mom against me and dad. You wanna join?"

I half smile, "Sure." I stand up too, "But you need to help me with the math part."

She laughs, "That's basically the entire concept of the game."

I nod, slightly smiling. "You know I suck at math."

She loops her arm between mine, "Don't worry, I got you."


	41. Chapter 41

**Hey everyone! Sorry I took a bit longer to update. It may be like this for awhile.**

 **Long story short, the file I had this story written up on somehow got erased, so now I have to rewrite the chapters I had done on top of the ones I still need to do.**

 **I haven't been in the writing mood lately, so it may start to take a bit longer to get these chapters up. But bare with me! I will update as soon as I finish each chapter.**

 **Thanks, and sorry again.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think about this chapter!**

* * *

I wake up the next morning to Aria jumping onto my bed in a panic. Why? Because she woke up from a text from Spencer telling her that Hanna got herself arrested last night. How? She found a gun in her mom's bag and freaked when she thought it was the one that killed Wilden, so she tried to bury it at the college she went to meet Spencer and Emily at. I had no idea till this moment that her dad told her that he had a gun and had only realized it was missing when her mom went over to see him the same night Wilden died. So basically I woke up to a mess of an event that led to me asking a whole bunch of questions since I haven't been as in the loop when I asked to be out of it.

As if that wasn't already a mess in itself, after I got out of work I went home and found Aria in the middle of pushing away one of Mike's Lacrosse friends from a liplock. She had offered to help him with an english paper and it ended with him making a move. I messed around with her about a sophomore trying to get something out of her and she laughed it off. In all honesty at the time it seemed like a funny moment, the next day however wasn't all smiles and laughter when I walked down the hall during school and could just see that Mike is yelling at Aria. For what reason? I'm not sure until I get a bit closer.

"Hook up with Connor last night." his voice was raised enough to hear that he's pissed. I haven't seen him this worked up since he spiraled after things with his parents last school year.

" _What_?" Aria gets out in disbelief. "Where did you hear that?"

"Where do you think?" he asks, "I was just in the locker room, and you just can't..." he doesn't have time to finish his sentence before she storms away from him and heads down the hall. Then he catches sight of me when he realizes I'm standing beside him. "Don't tell me you knew about this and did nothing."

I give him a look as his voice is mean, debating whether to yell or stay calm. I go with half and half. "Mike, chill out."

"Don't tell me to chill, Jessie."

"How about you learn the facts before getting up in your sister's face." I get up a bit in his, "Because that is not what happened."

"So you were there."

"Yea, and I walked in on _him_ making a move on her. Not the other way around."

He watches me for a few seconds and then takes a breath, "I'm going to kill him."

I shake my head a few times, "Not if I get to him first."

I walk into the courtyard during lunch to see both Luna and Kyle glaring at me from one of the tables. I walk past them, debating whether I want to try and explain my side of the story again to get it through their stubborn brains that it wasn't my fault.

But before I can make a decision I realize that Emma is sitting with them. She catches my eyes and says, "What are you looking at loser?"

Then one of the guys at their table launches a spitball at me, only managing to get my shirt. "Go rot in hell."

My face starts to burn up as I feel my anxiety kicking in. Neither Luna or Kyle defend me as they just look away. So I walk away and end up bumping into a table from not paying attention.

"Jessie." I hear Mona's voice and it freaks me out for a second as my heart sinks.

I turn my head to the side and see her sitting at one of the tables right next to the one I ran into. "What do you want, Mona." I don't say this in a nice way.

She gives me a look, "Jeez, someone has a stick up their ass." she says in her snarky way.

"I'm not in the mood for your bullshit."

Her eyes soften, "I'm not trying to start a fight, Jessie. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry about what happened with Blake. I was rooting for you to be happy."

My face drops a bit, "Oh."

"I know I put you through hell, Jessie. But Blake should not have treated you like that. You were his girlfriend, he went too far."

I'm so shocked by this conversation that I can't get more out than, "Uh...thanks." Now I feel uncomfortable as I clear my throat, "Well, I gotta go."

"Wait."

I take a breath and watch her, "For?"

"Did you know that Toby gave _A_ the RV?" she whispers.

My head spins for a second and no words come out as my mouth starts to drop. I have to process what she said before I say, "What?" I shake my head, sitting down across from her. "Why would he do that?"

"I don't know." she shakes her head and shrugs, "But Spencer knew about it."

I shake my head multiple times, "No. Spence wouldn't keep a secret like that from us."

"You'd be surprised on how many secrets your friends are probably keeping from you, Jessie."

Well she isn't wrong about that. Clearly no one has told her that I wanted out as soon as everything with Blake happened. "You're right. Because I told them to keep it to themselves. I'm out."

She slightly laughs, "Funny."

"I'm serious, Mona."

She slowly nods, "You think it's that easy? Just saying you're done and you'll be left alone? You know _A_ doesn't play like that."

"You would know."

She watches me for a few seconds, "I'm just telling you the truth."

"Maybe, but the truth from you isn't always the most reliable thing considering you've been _A_ multiple times in the past two years."

After school I head off to the store to do a few things. In the process of trying to keep myself busy with everything that has been going on I somehow manage to end up going upstairs to the apartment. I look around when I get inside at the progress that me and Toby have made. I can't wait for it to be finished.

I walk over to where the living room would be and sit in the middle of the floor, taking out my drawing stuff from my backpack. I daze out while I draw in my sketchpad and somehow I don't realize till I'm done that I ended up drawing a comic version of the night I was almost raped by Blake. I mean, it doesn't completely surprise me because it's happened before. Sometimes I'm so distracted as I draw that I just go into some kind of trance, and when I come back from it I see that I drew something without remembering that I did it. Each time it's happened was when I've gone through something horrible in my life. First it happened after the accident, then after Mona, and now this. But I have to admit, these always turn out to be my best work.

When I get home from the store I head up the steps to go to our room. My plan is to collapse onto my bed and knock out, but instead I walk in to see Aria curled up on her bed dazed out as she stares at my bed. She looks upset as mascara is staining her face.

"You okay, Ria?"

She doesn't answer, so I throw my stuff onto my bed and walk over to hers. I don't hesitate to sit on the edge and lean my back up against the headboard, straightening out my legs and she crawls closer to me, laying her head on my lap.

We are in silence for awhile as I rub her arm in comfort and allow her to cry. Eventually she tells me that the boys from Mike's team have been texting her and calling her a slut. Some of them asked to get into her pants. Apparently when she stormed into the locker room after Mike yelled at her Connor told her that everyone knows that her and Fitz have been more than just friends outside of school after he left Rosewood High during junior year. That's when Ezra walked into the locker room and Aria left.

I try to calm her down by telling her funny stories from our past. My thought is to have her think about anything but this, but it doesn't work out all that well. Then maybe fifteen minutes later a knock comes to the door. Aria yells to go away, but Mike walks inside anyway.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Mike just leave me alone, please." her voice is a bit hoarse from crying as she says that.

Does he listen? Nope. He comes inside anyway, "Aria."

"Look." she lifts her head off my leg and sits up a little, "I'm sorry your whole team thinks I'm a slut. I'm sorry about mom going away. I'm sorry, okay." Aunt Ella left with Zack yesterday, she still feels bad about it.

He watches her for a second, then turns to me. "Can you give us a second? You can go to my room if you want."

I half smile and slowly get up from her bed, grabbing my backpack from mine and then walk out. I close the door behind me and head to his room. I'm really hoping he'll help her and not blame her again.

Now while we were all at home feeling as safe as we can be in our own homes without worrying about _A_ tonight, we had no idea that Hanna was going through hell. Because the following day the entire town found out that Ms. Marin got arrested for Wilden's murder. Hearing that one minute Hanna and her parents were at the house trying to feel normal and the next her mom was getting hauled away in cuffs was a lot to grasp. Until they can find a way to get her mom out her dad is taking care of her at the house.

Hanna didn't come to school today and I can't say I blame her. So later on the girls go over to keep her company. Me on the other hand decided to stick around at home and started to draw again. I don't daze out this time, but I do manage to draw a side by side of Mona and Blake that takes up the entire page. They both have the same demented look in their eyes, as if they have the same brain in that moment to hurt me. She is in her black hoodie with the hood up, while he is seen in his blond hair and green eyes, part of his face covered in shadow from it being night time.

I'm just about done coloring the drawing when my phone buzzes on the nightstand. I lean over and grab it, it's Toby. "Hello?"

"Hey. Are you busy?"

I rest the phone on my shoulder to hold it to my ear as I continue, "Not really. Just at home. What's up?"

"Can you come over? I need your help with something."

I change the phone back to my hand, "Yea sure. I'll let you know when I'm on my way."

I ride my board over to the Brew, the back of my neck standing up the whole time because I have this feeling like someone is following me. I mean, it is night now and I was stupid enough to ride by myself rather than just take my car, but at this point who cares. It turns out that when I get there what he wants help with is something _A_ related. Not only him, Caleb too. They both got this crazy idea to do their own research to get this mystery done and over with right now. Do I like the idea? No, not at all.

"We just need an extra pair of eyes to see what we may miss." Caleb tells me. "And ideas that we don't think of."

"That's what the girls are for." I tell him.

Toby shakes his head, "They don't know we are doing this."

"What?"

"At least not yet." Caleb adds, "We will fill them in, we just need time to see if we can find something."

"And I'm your best bet for help."

They both nod, "You're the only one out of the girls not being targeted. If _A_ finds out they are doing something like this who knows what can happen."

I sigh, nodding a little. "Okay."

"Great." they both say.

"Hold on." they both give me a confused look, "If I do this then you need to be honest with me about something." I'm looking at Toby when I say this.

"Okay?" he says, not getting what I'm getting at.

"Mona told me about the RV."

His face drops, "Jessie…"

"I want to know why, then I'll agree to help."

He watches me for a few seconds and then shakes his head. "It's complicated."

"Everything that includes _A_ is complicated, Toby."

He takes a deep breath, "Look, I will tell you. It's just not the right time. But I _promise_ I will when I find a way to explain."

I stare him down for about five seconds and then slowly nod, "Oh, alright."

"You'll help?" Caleb asks.

I nod, "Yea. I'm in."

From here I follow their lead. Toby puts up a bulletin board by one of his walls in the living room while Caleb sets up his laptop on a table by the TV. Toby passes me a few things and I pin them up onto the board. For a bit of time we are just setting things up and making sure we have everything where it needs to be. Then Caleb gets a call from Hanna, so me and Toby are on our own.

"Jessie." he says as he hands me a piece of paper.

I grab it and pin it up, "Hm?"

"How are you?"

My heart sinks a bit as I realize he means about Blake. "I'm good." I turn to him and smile, "Great."

His eyebrow goes up, "Seriously." he asks sarcastically.

I sigh and look away, "I'm just trying to process the best I can."

"And that includes lying not only to me, but to yourself?"

I shake my head, "I really don't want to talk about it right now."

He gets quiet, probably debating if he wants to continue. "You want some coffee?" is what he comes up with instead.

I nod, "Sure."

I hear him walk away as I continue with the board. "Thanks by the way." he says from the kitchen.

I look at him, "For what?"

"For helping us. I know you really want to distance yourself from this."

I half smile, "I want to know just as badly as you guys who is doing this." I turn away from him, "And whether or not Alison is actually alive."

He stands beside me and hands me a cup of coffee, "As long as you realize that this can bite you in the ass just as much as anything else that includes _A_ related stuff."

I nod, taking a sip of my coffee. "I'm willing to risk it."

"Good." Caleb says as he walks over, "Because we need all the help we can get."

I help them all night, that I'll tell you. I don't head home and have to tell Aria to tell Uncle Byron that I'm sleeping over Carter's house. Since the girls don't know about this then I can't go blabbing about staying over Toby's for some _A_ research.

I had eventually decided to take a quick rest on his sofa, to close my eyes for a minute or two. Instead it turns into hours and I'm not woken up until the sun is already in the sky, Caleb's voice coming to my ears.

"You sure that Spencer remembered that partial tail number right?"

I roll over from facing the back of the sofa to look at them, laying on my other side. Toby is still at the board and Caleb is on his computer.

"I feel like we've been at this for days." he continues.

"Spence remembers everything." I tell him, making them both look over at me.

"Jessie's right." Toby gets in, looking back at the board. "She can quote entire passages of…." I lose him as he says a nonsense word I don't understand while he continues, "In two languages." he turns to Caleb, "Keep trying."

"I don't know what you said, but that definitely sounds like something Spencer would do."

He laughs, turning back to the board as Caleb goes back to typing. I sit up on the sofa and head over to the kitchen, grabbing some water while they keep talking a bit more.

I zone out until I hear, "Hanna thinks that Alison is still alive."

I turn to them, "Yea, Sencer saw her too." They both look at me, "And you said the same." Toby adds.

I nod, walking back over and sitting on the sofa. "I did."

"How can you be so sure?" Caleb asks.

"Because I was conscious when I saw her pull me out."

"Everyone else just saw a blond in a red coat." Toby tells me.

"You could have been imagining it. You did inhale a lot of smoke." Caleb adds.

I nod, "I know, but I know what I saw. It's not like I was the only one who saw her." I look at Toby, "Plus Spencer wasn't in that fire, so she is probably the most reliable at this point."

He slowly nods, and we continue to talk for a few more minutes. Then Caleb's laptop makes a noise and he tells us that it found something off the tail number for the plane. I tell them that I'm coming with them but they convince me that I need to go to school. That I need to play the part of not knowing what they are doing. They are right of course. If I skip daily stuff like school it'll give something away.

When I head to school I planned on talking to Hanna to see how she's doing, but during first period I don't have the heart to ask as she looks distracted. So when I see her and Emily at Hanna's locker before third period I debate whether to ask now. They are talking to each other until Emily starts to yell at some guys watching Hanna with smiles on their faces. Then Ezra walks over and says something, making the boys leave. Emily takes off and I'm about to walk over to talk to Hanna when she takes a walk with Fitz.

I follow them until they get into the courtyard and just miss her when she walks away from him. I think about backtracking the other way when he turns around and walks into me.

"Jessie." he grabs onto my arm to make sure I don't fall backwards and then slowly lets go. "Sorry, didn't see you."

I half smile, shaking my head. "It's okay, Ezra."

"I'm Mr. Fitz here, remember?" he smiles a bit.

I give an apologetic look, "Sorry. I still did that even when my aunt was still working here."

He laughs a little, "So...how are you?"

I slowly nod, "I'm good." He gives me a look, the same look everyone gives when they know I'm lying. "Okay. I'm dealing with it."

"Sounds like you're avoiding it."

"I'm doing my best with a situation that turned out to be bad, but I'm fine."

He watches me for a few seconds, nodding a little. "Well you know I'm here to talk when you need to right?"

I nod, "I do."

"Good. Because I rather you not bottle up your emotions again. Or avoid things." he's quiet for a second, "Like when you found out I was the one who pulled you out of the car accident you kind of shut down."

I bite my lip a bit from embarrassment, "I'm still really sorry for that."

He waves his hand dismissively, "That's the past. I'm just saying that you talking about things helps. You opened up after Mona and didn't end up in a downward spiral like you did after the accident."

"There's a difference about losing your family and being kidnapped."

He shakes his head, "Being kidnapped isn't something you should shove aside as a no big deal thing, Jessie. It traumatized you so bad you had bad reactions that you couldn't control for months. And this is not something you should hold back either."

As if it saved the day the bell rings, "I gotta go."

He half smiles, "Talk later?"

I slowly nod, "Sure." then I turn around and walk off.


	42. Chapter 42

**Hey guys. I'm still trying to keep up and get back into writing, so here's a little something for you all** **.**

 **Hope you enjoy and leave a review. Thanks!**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform get the credit.**

* * *

"Hey, Best Friend."

I turn to the side from my locker, running late for lunch. Noel is leaning his shoulder up against Em's locker. He has a big smile on his face, his arms crossed over his chest, and his foot crossed over the other.

I slightly smile at him, "What's up, stranger?" I put away some books into my locker.

He shrugs, "Not much. Just saw you all by yourself over here and thought I'd keep you company."

"That's nice of you." I look at him, "But you've been MIA from my life since the Halloween Train. You don't even talk to me in class, or at lunch. Why the sudden interest?"

His smile fades a little, "I just needed my space from your friends. I don't know if you've noticed but they tend to get the people around them into deep shit."

I take a deep breath, "You're still on that?" I close my locker, checking my phone to avoid him.

He puts his hand under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "I care about you, Jessie. You know that right? That's why I wish you'd listen to me when I ask you to stop hanging around them."

His blue eyes are looking into mine so concerned that it melts my heart a little. He doesn't give that type of look often and it makes me feel kind of special. "I know, Noel. I get it. But they are my best friends."

He shakes his head, "No. Aria and Spencer have always been your best friends. The other two just happen to be in your life because of them."

I grab his hand and take it off my chin, our fingers grazing each other's lightly as I slip my hands in my pockets. "That doesn't mean that I haven't gotten to that level with them. We've all been through alot, gotten closer because of it."

"You need to stop defending them. You've been through what you have because of their messes."

"Noel, stop." I shake my head, "I'm tired of having this conversation."

He watches me for a second, inhaling deeply like he can't believe I won't listen to him. "Fine. Can I at least by you coffee at the Brew?"

I stare at him for a few seconds, "Wouldn't Jenna be jealous?" I ask in a joking way, smiling a bit at him.

He smiles a little, "We broke up."

My face drops, "Oh. I'm sorry."

He smiles and waves his hand dismissively, "It's alright. We grew apart. It happens." he puts out his arm in a gentleman like way, "My lady."

I smile, laughing because he looks ridiculous, "You're such a dork." I slip my hand between his arm.

"Don't tell anyone." we start to walk, "It'll ruin my reputation."

After school I go over to the store to open it up. I'm in the middle of stocking some things on the shelves when my phone rings in my pocket. I take it out and look, to my surprise it's Hanna. "Hey."

"Hey, Jessie." her voice sounds like she's about to cry.

"Everything okay?"

"Oh, yea. I'm great. Just wanted to see what you were doing."

I'm quiet for a second, because I know that's a lie. But I humor her. "Well, at the moment I am trying to get down from a ladder without breaking open my head." I say in what I'm hoping was a funny tone.

She laughs, not a fake laugh to make me feel better but her wonderful laugh I love to hear when she's in a great mood. It warms my heart to hear that. It feels like I haven't heard her laughter in forever with her being so distracted since she found out that her mom may have killed Wilden. I didn't know she had been struggling with this for awhile until I heard she was arrested.

"My fault since you're using one hand for a phone."

"Nah it's cool." I get down, silence for a few seconds. "How are you, Han?" I finally get this out, because all day at school I couldn't find a time or courage to do so.

She doesn't answer right away, "Can we not talk about this right now?"

I nod to myself, "Yea. Sure." I walk off to the back to grab some more stuff from inventory. It's a slow day for once in a long time and it's giving me some time to get things done without waiting till closing. "Do you want to come to the store and help me out?"

"No. That's okay." It's quiet for a second, "Maybe you can come over when you can?"

This takes me a bit off guard, "Oh. Yea, for sure."

"Cool." she doesn't sound all that thrilled though, "See you later."

I hang up and notice that I had gotten a text from Caleb while on the phone. Him and Toby found out some new stuff about the plane and want me to pass by Toby's. I of course already have plans with Hanna so I have to pass on it.

I close up right away and head over to Hanna's. When I get to her house she opens the door with red eyes, like she'd been crying. She doesn't say a word as she just turns away from the door, leaving it open for me to come inside. Once I do I close the door behind me, placing my skateboard by the wall next to the door and follow her up to her room. I watch her walk over to her bed and lay down, facing away from me and the door. I knew she was going through a lot, but I didn't realize she was this bad.

For a few seconds I'm frozen in place, not sure what to do. Then I slowly walk to her bed and sit beside her. I place my hand on her arm and rub it with my thumb. She reaches up with her other hand and grabs mine as she starts to cry.

"Han…" She pulls my hand towards her, making me move closer. So I lay beside her and hug her from behind. "I'm sorry." I put my head on her shoulder, "I'm so sorry."

We are in this position for I'm not sure how long, but eventually she starts talking. She tells me that Spencer had come over early and dropped even worse news about her mom. Besides that she feels horrible for getting her mom into this mess, now her mom may end up with a sentence of being in jail for the rest of her life. Or it could even be a death penalty since Wilden was a cop.

Just telling me that makes her start to cry again. "It'll be okay." I tell her, my arms still wrapped around her as I try to hold back tears for her sake. "Veronica will figure something out. She won't give up on your mom."

"But what if she can't save her. What if I have to go the rest of my life without her around."

"That won't happen." In reality I obviously am not the right person to tell her this. Why? Because I'm an example of living my life without my mom around and I'm sure that isn't comforting for her.

"I hope you're right." she squeezes one of my hands. "Thanks for being here."

I tighten my hug on her, "Always here if you need me."

I stay with her for about another hour after this. Just trying my best to keep her distracted. Then I get a call from Carter when I leave her house, asking if I'm down for a bit of softball with her and some of the girls. I agree on this and skate right over.

I'm the fourth person to bat after Tori. You get two at bats back to back to see your progress. The first time I struck out, but when I go for my second round I wait and don't swing on the first two pitches, one being a ball and the other a strike. On the third one I don't hold back as I hit a grounder down the middle of the field.

I watch the ball jump off of the mound as Stephanie just misses it between her legs. This gives Freya and Lizzy no time to reach the ball as it heads out into center field towards Danielle. The ball getting out that far allows me to round first base and run straight to second.

I slide into second base safely feet first as the ball is just getting thrown to Lizzy. Out of breath I standing up and wipe off the sand from my sweatpants.

A pat comes to my back, "Great hit." Lizzy tells me with a smile as she tosses the ball back to Stephanie.

Lizzy is Carter's sixteen years old cousin. She's a junior at Rosewood High and is planning on going out for the softball team again this year in the spring. She had been on the JV team with me, Carter and a few of the other girls here. She's one of the best people on the team, being able to play every position.

Every once in awhile she will show up to play a few innings with us. Normally she'll switch to whatever spot isn't being used when that person bats so that the other can rest up a bit. But today she is in Luna's spot instead the entire time because Luna wants nothing to do with me anymore. She refuses to play whenever I'm around.

I smile back, "Thanks, Liz."

"Here, Jay."

I turn and stare as Kelly walks over to me with my glove. She's about to bat as Tori moves from my spot at first base since she was playing for me to go to third for Kelly. Tori and Kelly both normally take turns playing third. Now it's Kelly's turn as she hands it to me and I pass her the batter's helmet I was wearing and then runs over to the batter's box.

Before I walk away from second base Lizzy pokes my arm, "You good?"

I take a deep breath and nod, "Yea. My head is in this." I say, because I probably look distracted from being with Hanna today.

She half smiles, "That's not what I meant."

I look at her in confusion, "I…"

"With Luna, basketball, and….you know." she gives me a sympathetic look, "Are you alright?"

"Oh." I slightly smile and shrug, "It's whatever at this point. I can't really do much about it. I just want to live my life. Basketball went down the drain to help for college, so softball is my last chance."

"That's not true." she shakes her head.

I watch her for a second, "I have no other way to pay for college without a scholarship, Liz. Besides to bust my ass at work if I don't."

"What about your drawings?"

"My…"

"I've seen the work Miss B. puts up from you. They are amazing, Jessie."

I blush a little, "Oh...thanks."

"Hey!" We both look over at Carter standing in her catcher's equipment. She has her helmet in her hand, her face is dripping with sweat and looks intense. "Can we get back to the game?"

I look at Lizzy and she smiles, then looks back at Carter. "Yea!" she yells back as she gives me a smile and goes back to her position.

I head back to mine at first base, crouching a bit into my ready position as Kelly swings at the first pitch and gets an air ball to Taylor at right field.

After the park Freya and Alyssa give me a ride to Toby's. I felt bad not going over earlier, so I'm helping them now to find a new lead. Because it turns out that they had a flop of nothing when they went to the airport where the plane is from.

"Ever thought that this guy is covering something up?" I ask about the person they talked to at the airport.

Caleb nods, "Yep." He pulls out the lighter that Toby had found the day of the lodge, "We think this belongs to him."

I raise my eyebrow in confusion, "I don't see how you came up with that."

He points to the front, "It has the guy's initials on it."

I think for a few seconds, "I have an idea." I start to tell them that they should go back tomorrow and pressure him into talking. The two of them against him I'm sure will get him talking. "Especially if you make a threat to kick his ass."

"That's smart." Caleb nods.

I slightly smile, "While you guys are doing that I can do a few things here. See if there are any other connections besides him."

On my skate home from Toby's it's practically dark out now. The street lamps shining down on me as I skate on the street. I'm turning a corner when I feel my skateboard get stuck and I go forward, getting thrown off of my board as it rolls away down the street and hits the curb. My hands go out in front of me to stop myself from hitting my face against the cement and I feel it scrape up a bit.

"Ow." I look down at my hands and see a bit of blood on one of them, but nothing on the other. It's not as bad as I thought it would be as I stand and wipe it on my pants.

I look around to see what I ran over and notice a pretty large rock. I kick it in frustration and as it rolls away my phone beeps in my pocket. I take it out, praying that I'm not about to see my phone screen cracked from the fall.

When I look I see that it's from a blocked number. " _See how easy it is to make it seem like you had an accident? Stay out of my way or it'll be worse next time. -A_ "

I think I prefered having a cracked screen over being able to see this message as my heart sinks and shoot my head up, looking around in panic. _What the fuck_.

The whole ride home I can't help but feel like someone is watching me the entire time. I find myself looking over my shoulder every few minutes just to be sure as I try to be more careful skating. When I get home I run upstairs and head to the bathroom to grab a band aid for my hand. Then I go to my room and roll my skateboard under my bed. That's when Aria walks inside, just getting home from Spencer's and asks me how my day went. I just try to have a normal convo as I lay down on my bed from exhaustion.

I debate whether to show Aria the message, because I've been keeping my distance up until the point where the boys asked me to help. I think she's been loving the idea of being away from it all as well. But since the girls don't know about this I don't know if I should mention anything. Because if I do then I'd either have to play it off like it's just an empty threat trying to scare me out of ever helping again, or to tell her what I know.

In the end I decide to keep my mouth shut. She has enough to worry about.


	43. Chapter 43

**Hey everyone. Here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **Bit shorter than the last chapters but hope you enjoy. Leave a review, please.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Let's skip a few days and I'll catch you up on what's been happening. Mike was accused of wrecking Connor's car and almost got expelled so that Connor's dad wouldn't charge him. But Ezra stepped in and somehow magically made the whole thing go away. Emily's house got demolished by a car crashing through her living room and almost killed her mom in the process. The driver was never found, so it's assumed that _A_ had something to do with it. In the _A_ hunt with the boys I helped one last time and then stopped helping. _A_ scared me enough to keep myself distant from this, so I told them that I needed to keep my head on school for awhile. Lets see how long I can keep myself out of it. While helping that one last time they got Spencer involved. She was ticked off at me for not telling her and the girls that I was helping out behind their backs, but that all went out the window quickly when Caleb found out that a cellphone he got from that guy they cornered at the airport had numbers from New York that belong to CeCe. It's pretty much looking more and more likely that she may actually be the new _A_. And I don't jump to conclusions that easily.

Then Mona went and got herself arrested by turning herself in for killing Wilden. Which we all know didn't happen. But since the cops don't know what to believe they will probably send her off to Radley till they can find evidence against her. But in the meantime that will allow Ashley Marin to be released from jail and go home on probation till told otherwise.

That was last night, so when I wake up the next morning to Aria telling me this I'm completely confused.

"Why would she do that?" I sit up in my bed and rub my eyes.

She shrugs, "I don't know. Its Mona. Probably trying to get on our good side."

I shake my head, "Not likely."

"Well it's getting Ms. Marin out of jail. So it definitely helps."

I yawn and rub my eyes again. Then I notice her face looks a bit weird, "What's wrong?"

She hesitates for a second, "Jake is here."

I raise my eyebrows in confusion, because they aren't even seeing each other anymore and he was here last night too. But I decide to be nice about it, "This early?"

"Well...he kind of never left."

"He's been here all night?"

She nods, "Well since you were sleeping when I found out about Mona he saw I was a little freaked after coming back from the police station with the girls. So he thought he should stick around."

"How…"

"Romantic?" She gets in for me, sounding hopeful.

"Maybe?" I try to sound civil about it, but I can tell by her face that she knows I'm not.

"Jessie, don't start."

"Sorry. But I know that you're still into Ezra. So what are you doing?"

"Living my life." she stands, "Please just give him a chance. He wants to buy us coffee at the Brew."

I sigh, "Fine."

At the Brew I see Ezra...naturally. He's over at a table with Maggie, glancing over at us every moment he gets. The poor guy is still clearly in love with her and Aria is torturing him by spending time with Jake. Then he turns away and looks to be in an intense argument with Maggie all of a sudden.

So after school I head over to his place to see if he's alright. But when I go to knock on his door it swings open. "Jessie." Maggie gets out, almost dropping a box she has under one of her arms and puts her hand to her chest. "You scared me."

I don't know her all that well, just met a few times. But she seems to like me better than Aria for obvious reasons.

I shake my head, half smiling, "Sorry. Didn't mean to."

She turns her head as I realize Ezra is walking over to the door now. She turns back to me, "I have to go." Her face turns a little angry all of a sudden.

"Oh. Okay. See you around."

She slightly smiles, "Yea." Then bolts off down the hall.

I turn back to him, "What's going on?"

He sighs and asks me to come in. I head over to his sofa and sit on it, him doing the same. "She's taking Malcolm to Seattle. She was accepted to a college over there."

My mouth drops, "She's taking him away from you?"

He slowly nods, "That's the plan."

"Then when will you get to see him?"

He shrugs, "Whenever she brings him back or I go there."

I shake my head, "That's not fair."

He sighs, "Not much I can do about it."

I give him a sad look, then my eyes light up. He gives me the same look because he knows that means I have an idea.

"What did that brain of yours come up with?"

"A lawyer."

He slants his eyebrows in confusion, "What about it?"

"You can fight it. Talk to Veronica for advice on how you can have Maggie keep your kid close by."

His mouth starts to open a bit in shock, "Jessie, you're a genius."

I laugh a bit, "I wouldn't go that far."

He hugs me, "Looks like living with the Hastings did something for you after all."

I laugh, "Guess you're right." I pull away, "I hope this works."

He nods, "Me too." He takes a breath, "Don't tell Aria though, okay? I want to tell her."

I nod, "Yea. No problem."

Later on after work I head over to Paige's aunt's cabin. It's Emily's birthday and Paige is throwing a surprise party for her. Everyone from the swim team is supposed to be going, and other friends from school. I find out that Spencer and Aria had Paige invite Shana too because they saw her talking to a basically fully blind again Jenna at school and were talking about Alison. For one, Shana is now going to Rosewood High. She claimed that it was because of the better swim team, but who moves from Georgia to Pennsylvania just for swimming? And two, it seems that Shana and Jenna are closer than we thought, and they seem to know something about Alison that clearly the girls want to know about.

When I walk through the cabin door the music is blasting, people are drinking and being crazy. Spencer is keeping some kid from messing around with the dip because he is probably drunk, Hanna isn't showing up because her mom is finally home, and Aria is nowhere to be found.

"Jessie!" I turn and see Paige walking over to me. "You made it." She hugs me. We may be going to the same school but I haven't really talked to her since the Halloween train.

I pull away and smile a bit, "Of course. Wouldn't miss Em's birthday."

She smiles, "I'm glad you're here. Haven't seen or talked in awhile."

I slightly smile, "Yea, been a bit busy."

She slowly nods, "I've been meaning to tell you how sorry I am on what you had to go through with Blake and getting kicked off of basketball." Her voice is sincere, but it doesn't make it any easier to hear.

I shake my head, smiling as much as I can. "It's okay. I'm okay. Just living my life."

She smiles a bit, then a crash comes from behind me. "Crap. I have to go." she puts her hand on my arm gently, "We'll talk later." then she walks away.

After Em gets here (which she seems surprised yet pissed about something at the same time) I end up having a few shots and a beer. I should have thought it through for sure but it's making me feel really good now after a stressful day. Then I find Aria sitting on the sofa, staring out towards another room and sneak over to her.

I stand beside her for a few seconds but she doesn't notice me. Not until I practically jump onto her lap to sit on it, scaring the hell out of her. "Hello sunshine." I smile as I stare into her hazel eyes, one arm around her neck, "Whatcha looking at?"

She slightly laughs, "Are you drunk?"

I put out my bottom lip, thinking for a few seconds as I look at the beer in my hand. "Um…" I slowly nod, "Getting there, yea."

She raises her eyebrows a bit, "Slow down. You know your temper rises when you drink." she goes to grab my beer.

I pull it away then switch it to the hand that's around her neck instead as I smile at her and put my hand on her face, squeezing her cheeks. This makes her laugh. "I feel great, Ria. I have no reason to be angry."

She smiles, "You're numbing my leg."

"Sorry." I slide over to the cushion beside her, "So what were you looking at?" I chug the rest of the beer.

She circles her finger around the rim of the solo cup she has in her hand, then looks over to where she was before. "Jake. He's here with some girl."

I turn to the side and see him with a tall blond girl. "Well, why aren't you over there breaking them up?" I look back to her.

She looks at me, confusion on her face. "Wow. You really are drunk. Because you hate him."

I laugh a little, "I don't hate him. I just prefer Ezra."

After this conversation things turn into a disaster. Shana and Jenna did show up, and after about an hour of them hanging around somehow Jenna ends up being found in the lake behind the cabin. Emily and Jake pulled her out with no pulse, but luckily the ambulance managed to get her breathing again. Em says that she had a head wound to the back of her head, like someone hit her. That pretty much put the party down the drain and everyone left. Aria got a ride home from Jake while Spencer had to drive my drunk ass to her house to sober me up. I'll have to get my car tomorrow.

The next afternoon I'm still at Spencer's since she made me sleep over instead of going home. I have a massive hang over as I lay next to her on her bed while we are watching a movie in her room on her laptop. That's when she randomly turns to me and blurts out. " _A_ has been giving Toby gifts."

I slowly look at her, my eyebrows slanting in confusion. "What?"

She takes a breath, "His mom may not have killed herself. She was probably murdered."

My mouth slowly opens in shock. We all know that his mom used to be in Radley when he was younger and one day committed suicide. But thinking that it may not have happened like that is a lot to grasp. "But…"

"That's why he gave the RV away. Clues about his mom for evidence of _A_ existing."

I shake my head, "He trusted _A_ that much to give up something we needed?"

"Wouldn't you?" She asks in a sad tone, "If you found out that your dad's car was actually tampered with instead of just flipping out of control to avoid a dog, would you have done the same?"

My heart sinks to my stomach. That was kind of a low blow. But instead of getting upset I nod, "Probably."

She takes a deep breath, "Toby said that I could tell you because of how close you two are. So you can't tell anyone else."

My mouth opens, no words coming out for a second. "So you want me to lie?"

She shakes her head, "Just don't bring it up."

"And if they say something?"

Her eyes sadden a little, "Then you act like you don't know."

"Spence…"

"Jessie, please. This is really important to him."

"Have you thought that this is all just a trap to get him into trouble? I mean, it's _A_ for God's sake."

She nods, taking a deep breath. "I know. But just let him play this out for a bit longer."


	44. Chapter 44

**Hey everyone. Finally got some more writing in to upload.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform get the credit.**

* * *

After that movie with Spencer she drops me off to my car at the cabin and follow each other back to Rosewood. Ironically I end up seeing Toby standing in front of the store, his phone to his ear. I guess he assumed I was there, which he was right since I planned on passing by before going home as Spencer continues to drive back to her house. So I pull over, honk the horn and he walks over to my car when he notices.

He gets into the passenger's seat and for a few seconds we are both quiet. "You okay?" I finally get out.

He looks at me. "I was calling you."

I look at my phone and noticed the two missed calls. "I was driving. Sorry."

"I wanted to talk to you."

"About?"

"Spence told you, right?"

I slowly nod, slightly smiling as I feel a bit awkward now. "Yea...she did."

He nods a bit, not looking at me. "I just want you to know that I'm sorry I kept this from you. I wanted to tell you but…"

"Tobs." I lean closer and put my hand on his forearm, making him look at me. "I get why you didn't. I just wish you would have trusted me."

"I do trust you. I just don't want _A_ to stop."

"You shouldn't let _A_ control you like this. He or she is making you obsessed."

"I need to know what happened to my mom."

I nod, "I know."

He takes a breath. "I have to go."

"Wait." I grab tighter to his arm before he can move. "I want to help."

He shakes his head, "No. I have to do this on my own."

"But…"

"Jessie." He grabs my hands and squeezes them in his, "I got this. Okay?"

I watch his blue eyes for a few seconds, they are begging me to let him do this. Then I nod, because I know when he makes up his mind it's hard to change it. "Okay."

When I get home my thoughts are now occupied with this secret I have to keep. I don't like holding back stuff from people, especially if it may affect them in a big way like with _A_. But I'm respecting Toby's wish to keep it to myself. Which is hard to do because Aria's able to tell how distracted I am when I'm trying to read the chapter in the book that Ezra assigned for homework, but end up still stuck on the same page that I had been on ten minutes before because I can't stop rereading the same paragraph from my mind being elsewhere.

Luckily I don't have to keep it for long when Spence tells me that the girls ambushed her the following day about it. She made it seem like I had no idea so they wouldn't put blame on me, allowing me to play dumb.

A few days later I notice that Ezra seems to be completely lost. He's moody, growing out his beard and looks exhausted all the time. I haven't had time to talk to him lately about Malcolm, but I can assume that it's probably not going well if he looks like death itself.

So tonight instead of going to this school dance at a barn that is country themed I stick around here. Me and Ezra have plans to hang out. The problem is that when I get to his door he's rushing out of it. He has a nice button up white shirt on and a black tie. His hair is combed and beard is gone.

"Ezra."

He looks at me as he locks his door, "Crap, Jessie. I meant to call you."

"What's up?" I raise an eyebrow to him.

"Hackett called at the last minute for me to chaperone at the dance."

I give a sad look, "So no hanging out?"

He shakes his head, "Sorry." he watches me for a second, "Unless you want to come?"

I think about this for a second and then shake my head, "I'm good. Every time there's a dance it seems like there's a lot of drama."

He laughs, "That's high school for you." he kisses me on the head, "Raincheck?"

I nod, half smiling. "Sure."

When we finally do hang out is sometime before first period. I found him in his room sitting in a daze and decide to get to the bottom of it. He finally gets off his chest that Maggie didn't put his name on the birth certificate, so when he tried he found out that he isn't Malcolm's dad. He looked so upset about it. I mean, I can't blame him. He invested time getting to know this kid just for him to be taken away and be told that for the last seven years she had no idea who the father was till now.

The rest of the school day was a bummer. Besides that senior year is completely kicking my ass, the triplet's friends are still giving me a hard time. Luna and Kyle don't even bother to look at me anymore unless they are around when their friends are picking on me. They like to bring me down by calling me names and making me feel like shit about the Blake situation, but I try not to take it seriously. I don't know why they keep on insisting to bring me down about something I didn't have any control over, making it seem like it was me who got him into this mess when it was the other way around.

So during one pretty nasty "Why don't you go kill yourself." with a bit of a bump to my arm from some girl I don't even know when I get to my locker after school, Caleb walks up behind me and scares her away.

He looks down at me, "You okay?" he stands against Em's locker.

I put in my combo and stuff books into it, "Fine. Thanks."

He puts his hand on my shoulder to make me look at him, "I can't believe they are still bothering you about this."

I shrug, "I'm not paying attention to it anymore."

"Doesn't mean they have the right to treat you that way."

"Treat her what way?" Hanna and Emily come from down the hall and stand beside us, having Caleb move so that she can get to her locker.

I shake my head, "Nothing."

Caleb gives me a sad look, then turns to them. "Some supporters of the Rouches are still giving Jessie a hard time."

"I'm fine." I add quickly and close my locker, "They have their opinions, but I don't listen to their shit."

"That's a good attitude." Noel pops up out of nowhere and stands beside me.

I see Hanna and Em give him a weird look and Caleb gives a bit of a smile. Then they all walk away when Spencer and Aria end up at Aria's locker.

I look up at him as he pulls me into a hug. "Hey, Noel."

"Do I need to beat someone up?"

I laugh and shake my head, "No. I got it."

"You'll beat them up?"

"Yes."

He laughs, "I'd like to see that." I see him look behind me and I turn. The girls are all looking at him in their suspicious way, they still don't trust him much. "Want to play a pick up game later? You can ask someone to come and I'll grab Sean for a two on two."

I turn back to him, "I have to open up the store."

"Oh, Brant, come on. You're always working."

"It's either that or don't have money for anything."

"That's what the Montgomery's are for." he jokes. "Plus, you haven't touched a basketball in awhile. Gotta get you back into your game."

I slightly smile, "How about you help me at the store for an hour and then I'll meet you at the park when I close up?"

His eyebrows go up. This guy has never worked in his life, so when he actually agrees it takes me off guard. So he walks with me over to the store and put him to work on organizing some things while I deal with other stuff. Then he leaves to get changed into whatever he wants to wear for basketball. When I'm done I rush home to change, grab Mikey and we head over to the park. Mike is always my teammate for doubles, so he was definitely down. Especially when it comes to hanging with Noel.

A couple days later I'm at home in the middle of watching a show sometime after school. I'm sitting on the sofa in the family room, legs stretched out as I rest my back against the armrest. That's when Aria calls me to say that she's gonna be busy.

I pause the show I'm watching, " _A_ stuff?"

"Yea."

"What's going on?"

She hesitates for a second, "Mona might be dead."

My heart sinks, "What?"

"We got a text saying that if Hanna's mom goes free that we'll be blamed for Mona's body being found."

Hanna found out that there was a witness that saw Ms. Marin leave Wilden before he heard a gunshot. This guy's name is Travis and his family owns a tow truck company, which is how he ended up around that area that night. Someone paid him off to be quiet, assuming it was _A_. He told Hanna at the dance because he felt bad, and Hanna convinced him to help. So since he knows she wasn't there he has to do a lineup to help out.

"Holy shit."

She takes a breath, "Yea. We are trying out a lead to see if we can find her."

"Where?" but before she can answer I add, "You know what." I shake my head, "I don't want to know. Just be careful."

"Of course. And you let me know if anything weird happens to you."

"No problem."

"Love you."

I smile to myself, "Love you back."

"Love you more."

"Can't be true."

"Always true."

We both laugh a little, say goodbye and then hang up.

A couple hours later, as it's starting to get dark out my phone rings. I'm expecting it to be Aria as I see that it's a text message, but it's not. It's from Wes. My eyebrows go up in surprise, a bit confused.

" _Hey, Jessie._ " He writes, " _How are you?_ "

I debate for a few seconds whether to answer, because I haven't heard from him since the night he left after the trial. So I may be a little taken back by this random reach out from him. But I suck it up and go with, "Hey, Wes. I'm good. Just watching some TV. What about you?"

I wait about five seconds and get another text. " _Great. I've been meaning to call or text you earlier but school has me swamped._ "

"I fella ya." I write back, "School is hectic here too."

He takes a little longer to answer this time, " _Listen. I don't want you to feel like a last resort, because you aren't. I was planning on coming to see you as soon as I surprised Ezra with me coming to visit. But it turns out that he isn't home. Would it be weird to ask if you'd want to hang out?_ "

I read his text and a slight smile comes across my face, "Sure. You hungry? We ordered Chinese."

" _Chinese sounds awesome. Be there in ten._ "

I turn back to the TV to continue watching my show when I jump off the sofa like a ninja, realizing that I had changed into in my PJ's after I showered earlier. This would have been so embarrassing. So I bolt up the stairs and change real quick into long blue jeans and a Fall Out Boy hoodie, letting Mike know that I'm having someone over and then head back downstairs just as I get a text from Wes saying he's outside.

I go over to the front door and open it up. I stare up at the few inches taller than me baby Fitz with his dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. A bright smile on his face. "Hey, beautiful."

I blush a little, "Hey." I smile shyly at him. "Come on in." I move to the side to let him inside.

"Can I get a hug?" he asks as he turns around to me when I close the door.

I laugh, "Oh. Sure."

He leans down and wraps his arms around me as I wrap my arms around his neck. It's weird, but I get the same safe feeling from him the same way I would with Ezra. "How you been?" he pulls away and looks at me.

I slightly smile as I start to mess around with the silver circular bud earring I have on the upper part of my ear. This is one of my many ways that people can tell I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable, but lucky for me he doesn't know me that well. "Good. Just school and work. Nothing new."

"Sounds boring."

"You'd think my life would be more exciting considering I live in Rosewood." Obviously my life is a bit too exciting in this town, but I'm not going to tell him that.

He laughs, "That's a great point."

I take a breath that kind of gets short for a second, him being here is making my anxiety pick up. Why? "Well...you head over to the family room and I'll grab the Chinese."

"Don't need help?"

I smile, "How about I give you the bottle of soda and cups and you leave the rest to me?"

He smiles and nods, "Deal."

So he follows me over to the kitchen as I grab the bottle of soda from the fridge. I hand it to him and then grab some cups and hand those to him too. "There are movies on the shelves if you want to check them out."

"Gotcha." then he turns and leaves the kitchen.

When I walk back inside with the freshly heated up Chinese food and a couple of forks I see that he has a DVD in his hand. He turns to me and shows me, asking if I want to watch it.

My mouth drops when I realize he's holding the first Harry Potter movie. It turns out that he is just as much of a dork as me when it comes to this series. He's read the books more than me and knows the words just as much as I do. We literally don't talk the whole time the movie is on unless it's to say which part is our favorite, which parts were changed from the books, or randomly blurting out the dialogue.

Then it gets a little awkward when the back door opens and Uncle Byron walks inside from a long day of work. "Hey." he says, raising an eyebrow when he notices that I'm laying my back against Wes's arm with my legs stretched out, still watching the movie.

"Hey!" I say louder than I meant to as I sit up from my position. "You remember…."

"Wes." Uncle Byron says, "Ezra's brother, right?"

He nods and stands, putting out his hand. "Nice to see you again."

Uncle Byron half smiles, reaching out too to shake it. "Did I ever thank you for helping Jessie out that night?"

He shakes his head, smiling a bit. "It was no problem, Mr. Montgomery. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

My heart jumps, him turning to me with a smile makes me lose my breath for a second. Why did that happen again?

When I walk him to the front door he looks down at me with a smile, "I had fun tonight."

I nod, "Me too. Let me know when you get home?"

"Sure thing." he hugs me and my heart jumps again. "Goodnight."

I smile, "Yea. Night."

I watch him walk down the steps and walk to his car. He beeps and waves as he drives away. Then I hear someone clear their throat from behind me. I close the door and turn around, Mike is standing on the steps.

"Someone has a crush."

My heart sinks, "What?"

"Wes." he says, "I think he likes you."

I smile and laugh, "That's crazy."

He shakes his head and walks down the steps as Uncle Byron walks into the kitchen with our leftover stuff. "It's not crazy, Jessie. You're a beautiful seventeen year old girl."

I start to blush, "You're sweet."

He laughs, "What are brothers for?"

I smile. He rarely ever considers himself my brother. "Jeff wouldn't have said something like that."

He slightly smiles, "You'd be surprised on how much that kid adored you, Jessie."

I head back to the living room, turning on the TV to watch it. But I daze out as I think about Wes. Was Mike right? Does he have a crush on me? It may have seemed like it. But then...do I have one on him? Is that why my heart kept jumping? No, no. I can't have a crush on him. That's Ezra's brother. I just got out of an abusive relationship and I even told Andrew that I wasn't ready for a boyfriend after what happened. No, a crush on him is out of the question.


	45. Chapter 45

**Hey Liars. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

 _I'm running in the woods, footsteps crashing behind me in the leaves. I run through the trees, the moon shining down on me. My heart is pounding so fast that it hurts. My breathing is picked up too much for comfort as I don't stop for even a second to catch it._

" _I'm going to kill you for getting me put in juvie." Blake's voice comes in a calm but scary voice as he chases me._

" _Leave me alone!" I yell to him._

" _When I catch you I'm going to rip your throat out, Jessie."_

" _Stop!"_

 _All of a sudden he is standing in front of me, blood on his shirt and a bloody knife in his hand. He has the same demented eyes a psychopath would have as he smiles at me. "You could have saved her."_

 _I inhale deeply as I look down at his feet, my breathing not being able to keep up with me as I lose it for a second. "No." I start to cry, "What did you do!"_

 _Aria is lying dead at his feet, her eyes wide open and blood gushing out of her stomach. Then her eyes blink and she sits up, standing. "Why did you let him kill me?"_

" _Ria."_

" _Why!" she rushes towards me, her hands ready to kill._

My eyes shoot open, "No!" I sit up, sweat dripping down my face. I can't breathe.

"Whoa" a familiar voice yells as a hand touches my arm gently, but I jump so bad that it makes her freak. "Chill!"

I'm breathing heavy as I see it's light outside. Aria is kneeling beside the sofa with a concerned look. I don't even remember falling asleep here, even the TV is still on the same channel I had from the night before.

"Ria."

"Are you okay? You were yelling in your sleep."

I shake my head, trying to catch my breath."Blake...killed you."

She scrunches her eyebrows in confusion, "What?"

"I dreamed that he killed you because of me." I take a deep breath. "Because I sent him away."

She reaches to me again and puts her hand on my hand, "I'm fine."

I nod, taking a deep breath. "Right." I look at her, she's in the same clothes she was in from the day before. "Did you just get home?"

She slowly nods, "Yea." she gets up and sits on the sofa as I crisscross my legs now. "I have to tell you something, but you can't mention it to anyone else but the other girls."

I wipe some of the sweat from my face and then lean over to grab my glasses from the coffee table. "Okay?"

"You were right." she takes a breath, "Ali _is_ alive."

My eyes pop open and my heart sinks a bit. This shouldn't have come as a surprise since I was one of four people who actually saw her the night of the lodge. But it doesn't mean that it sounds any less crazy that a girl who had been missing and presumed dead for the last four years is actually not.

I gulp a bit, nodding. "I told you I saw her."

She slowly nods, "I know. I wish I had believed you."

It's quiet for a few seconds, "So what now? Is she coming back?"

She shakes her head, "She can't right now. Whoever made her leave to begin with is still after her."

"But she wants to?"

She nods, "That's what she's hoping."

I watch her for a few seconds. Thinking about this. How will this change things in Rosewood if the girl who made life hell all of a sudden comes back after all this time gone? How will my life change? I will not go back to her downgrading me to Four Eyes again.

My mind flashes back to seventh grade, sometime before I moved to Jersey. I haven't thought of this in years, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Reminding me how much I really hate her.

 _I'm riding my board over to the park. Aria text me to meet with her there. It's dark out now as the street lamps shine down on me._

 _As I'm almost there I get close to bumping into Alison as she busts onto the middle of the street with two of her eighth grade friends out of nowhere. She's scowling at me as if she wants to rip my head off when she blocks my way._

 _I kick up my board to my hands, my heart sinking and my legs shake a bit. It's one thing to be afraid of the older kids, but it's another thing when they are with the meanest girl in my grade._

 _She has her hand on her hip as that same million dollar Alison smirk that scares the hell out of everyone comes. "Hey Four Eyes."_

 _I try to compose myself by taking a deep breath and putting on a mean face. "Stop calling me that."_

 _I go to walk around her but she gets in front of me. "How about a deal?" She puts her smile again, "I'll stop calling you that if you leave Aria and Spencer alone."_

 _I watch her for a second, "No." Her face drops from my sudden of confidence. "They were my friends before you took them."_

" _Exactly, Four Eyes. I took them. You need to move on." she crosses her arms, "I'm tired of hearing those two spit out your name in OUR friend group."_

" _They aren't your property Alison." I put up a threatening finger as I get up closer to her, she is a good two to three inches taller than me but that doesn't stop me. "They are your friends, and they can make their own decisions. One of those choices is to keep me as a friend. Deal with THAT." I realize how I'm talking to her and back up in fear._

 _She doesn't seem to be too phased by my confidence as she slightly smiles, "Then I'll have to teach you a lesson." She stares up above my head all of a sudden, nodding._

 _Two pairs of hands grab onto each of my arms, making me drop my board. "Hey!" I look to both sides as her friends hold on tight and pull me onto the sidewalk. I don't realize where we are until they start to drag me over to the abandoned house on this street. I dig my feet into the ground, trying to keep myself from being forced over there. "Alison, stop!"_

 _She turns around to me, my board in her hands as she smiles. "This is why you don't mess with me, sweetie."_

 _The older girls drag me to the backyard of the house, tossing me into the empty, dirty, and slightly dark shed. Alison walks over to a shelf that is just lit enough from the moon to find a candle powered lamp. She turns it on with one of the lighters her friend has and they close the shed door behind us._

 _I'm not sure how long I'm in here for, but they don't leave me alone as they threaten me. They want me to agree to the terms of not being Spencer and Aria's friend anymore, but I don't. That's when they get violent and beat the crap out of me. Alison of course keeping her hands clean as she stands behind them, laughing._

" _Okay!" I yell and spit out blood after one of them gives me another punch to the face. "I'll leave them alone." I look up at them from the dusty floor._

" _Was that so hard?" Alison says, smiling down at me when she walks closer._

 _I'm sitting up with one of my hands on the ground to keep me from falling back. My face hurts and my breathing is rapid as I hold onto my stomach in pain with the other. "I hate you."_

 _She smiles again, "Wouldn't be me if I didn't hear that everyday." Then she raises my board and slams it onto the ground._

" _No!" I crawl over and grab a piece as it broke in half, "My dad just bought that!"_

" _This never happened." She tells me, "You got hurt skateboarding."_

 _I nod, anger coursing through me as I spit out some more blood._

" _You don't speak, hang out, or even LOOK at my girls." She bends down, putting her hand under my chin and switching my face from side to side to see her handy work. "Not unless I say it's okay."_

 _I nod again, taking a deep breath._

" _Great." She stands, "But if you disobey me this will happen again. Got it?"_

 _I give her a mean look, "Yes."_

They left me in that shed with bruised ribs, bruises on my face, cut up cheekbone, bloody nose, and a cut lip. I never made it to meet Aria at the park and had to say it was from my "skateboarding accident". After that I avoided the girls at school and outside of it. All the way until I moved away about a month later. Once that happened I wasn't as scared to go against Alison, because she couldn't get to me.

"Earth to Jessie." I hear Aria as she snaps her fingers in front of my face, making me look up from my hands.

"What?"

"You dazed out." She gives me a concerned look, "Where did you go?"

I watch her for a second, debating. Then I say, "I need to tell you why I didn't make it to the park the night I went to the hospital before I moved."

She slants her eyebrows, "You mean the time before you started acting weird and stopped talking to me?"

I slowly nod, "Yes."

"I already know why, Jessie. You said…"

"I didn't get into a skating accident. I lied."

Her mouth opens in confusion, "Why?"

I take a breath, "Alison made me." Then I go on to tell her what happened that night.

She watches me with an open mouth. Her eyes a mix of being pissed and sad at the same time. "How could she do that to you?"

"Are you really surprised, Aria? She was the worst kind of person."

She shakes her head, "But she knew you were my best friend!"

"Exactly. That's why she did it. She couldn't handle you having someone outside of your group still as a friend. Especially someone not high on the popularity scale."

She shakes her head multiple times, "I can't believe you didn't tell me this."

"I was scared. Plus I didn't see the point after I moved and was able to control my life again."

"Then why tell me now?"

I shrug, "Just flashed in my mind when you said she is probably coming home."

She takes a deep breath, "I can't wrap my mind around her allowing those girls to hurt you the way she did. You were a mess when I saw you in school."

"Just goes to show you that she was more vicious than you realized."

From there I ask her to tell me what happened the night before to keep her mind off of what I just told her. Plus I want to know how they found out that Alison is alive. It turns out that they went to a town called Ravenswood. At some point Emily got taken without them realizing it and almost got cut in half when they found her trapped in a box. When that happened they found not one person in a red coat, but two people. One they figured was Alison, so Spencer chased after her and this person led her to a lair. While she was doing that Aria chased after the other red coat and found out it was CeCe. CeCe had fallen off from the second floor of the warehouse they were in but somehow managed to survive.

In the moment they all thought that she was actually _A_ , but it turns out that when the other red coat assumed to be Alison took Spencer to the lair they found a closet full of guy clothes. The lair was also filled with photos of not only the four girls, their boyfriends, Mona and even me, but also of Alison when she was seen at the lodge.

After this they went to attend an event in that town to see if they could find Alison. Spencer got attacked by who they assumed was _A_ in some creepy house they ended up in and some lady got upset with them for trying to find her because she is running away from someone trying to get to her.

In the end not too much more happened as Ezra wound up picking them up and dropped them off at Spencer's house. That's where they saw the girl in the red coat standing in the backyard and turned around to reveal herself as Alison. The fact that she actually came back to Rosewood after being away for so long surprises me. Then it turns out that Mona had been hiding out at some place while they were panicked looking for her. Leave it to Mona to make a scene when she's fine.

So long story short Alison is actually alive, and someone else is dead in her coffin. How did this person get there and why did they think she was Alison? So many questions and my brain can not deal with any of it.

After this convo Aria heads upstairs to get some sleep. She had stayed at Spencer's with the girls but they barely slept considering they had this in their heads. I don't bother to move from here as my mind races with this information of Alison trying to come home.

"Hey."

I look to the side and see Mike standing by the opening of the study, staring at me. "Hey, Mikey."

He slowly walks over and sits beside me, "You okay?"

I nod, even though I'm not. I can't exactly explain what's going on though. "Yea."

He watches me for a second, "Why don't I believe that?"

I shrug, "Because you think too much."

He slightly smiles, "Who do I get that from?"

I laugh a little, turning away to watch the TV.

"Jessie." He puts his hand on my leg to make me look at him, "Is it about Blake?"

My heart sinks, my mind flashing back for a second. "Why would you think that?"

"Because I see how different you seem since then. You're acting like this tough girl who can handle herself, but I can see past all that. You sometimes still pull away when a guy touches you. You're hurting and you need to open up."

"Mikey…"

"Please, Jessie? Talk to me."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, "I had a nightmare about him. He was chasing me, threatening to kill me when he caught me. But instead killed Aria out of revenge for getting him sent away."

His eyebrows go up, "Are you afraid he really will hurt you, or someone you love when he gets out?"

I watch his blue eyes for a few seconds, then nod. "Yea. Because he's already hurt me. He'll do it again."

From here I tell him a little bit more about how I'm feeling. How I'm scared that because of what he did I may never be able to feel for a guy again. I want nothing more than to be able to find someone for me. Someone who won't hurt me and loves me. Not someone who wants to pretend to like me just to get into my pants like he did. Because at this point that's all I can think was the point of Blake asking me out. He wanted more and in order for it to happen he needed to trick me. I mean, what kind of person goes from being into me the way he was and so sweet, to all of a sudden practically jumping me to get what he wanted? It's not a normal thinking of someone who actually likes a person.


	46. Chapter 46

**Hey everyone, here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Let me know in a review what you think please!**

 **Pretty Little Liars does not belong to me.**

 **Owned by Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Now let's skip a week later. Caleb and Toby have both been away for that time. Toby is doing his own search for answers based off of his mom. Then Caleb had gone to meet up with the girls at Ravenswood that same night the girls were there and ended up staying to help someone out. I didn't bothering asking for details on that one. Then _A_ has gone MIA, as well as Alison. Alison hasn't bothered to make contact since that night so the girls are a little on edge, and then _A_ just disappeared. And of course in the matter of this past week they have been trying to figure things out with getting Alison back home safely.

During our walk to school this morning I daze out from whatever Aria, Spencer and Emily are talking about. I'm walking a bit behind them like I always do when I either feel left out or just trying to distance myself. They don't seem to notice this though for most of the walk, until I feel someone give me a nudge to the arm to bring me back to earth.

When I look up from my feet I see that it's Spencer who wanted my attention, "You mind coming over after school to put more clues together to see if we can figure out who is keeping Alison away from Rosewood?"

I watch her for a second as the other two turn back to look at me. Then I shake my head, "No, Spence. I've told you a million times in the past week that I'm not getting involved in this."

She raises her eyebrows, shaking her head in what seems to be frustration as she stops me from walking when we get in front of the school. "What is up with you lately? This is important."

I look away, "Do I really need to answer that question?"

"You've been helping us figure things out since you found out about all this last school year. Now that we have a break from _A_ and have something solid about Alison you don't want to help?"

I shake my head, "No." I look up at her, "I don't."

"You hate her that much?" Emily asks, raising an eyebrow at me in concern.

I take a breath, "She was not my friend. Why do I need to explain this to you guys?"

Emily and Spencer both open their mouths to say something. Aria doesn't bother because she knows what's up with me. Neither of us told them what I told her that night. Felt better to leave it in the past.

Spencer beats Emily to talking, "Because she needs our help, Jessie. She needs the help of anyone who knows."

I shake my head, "Then you shouldn't have told me. Because out of everyone I'm sure I'm not one of the people she would want to help her."

Spencer eyes me for a few seconds, her eyes getting a little angry. "What's the real reason why you won't help? And don't keep saying it's because you guys weren't friends."

I see Aria give me a look, then I take a breath and say what comes to mind. "Spencer, she called me Four Eyes every chance she got when you guys became friends."

"I know." she gives me a sad look, "But she seems different, Jessie. I don't think she's like that anymore."

"Of all people to defend her you're doing it, Spencer? You guys were always butting heads."

"She has been on the run for four years. That can change a person."

I shake my head in disbelief, "She picked on me for basically two years because she didn't like the idea of any of you having a friend outside of the group. I just tried to ignore it and hung out with you guys anyway."

"Yea, until you started being an ass and ignored us till you moved away." she adds under her breath, but I heard it perfectly.

I take a deep breath, "That's because she eventually succeeded in bullying me away. She may have done little things here and there to bother me while you guys were around, but you never saw how much she really hated me."

Spencer's eyes sadden, the flames going away. "What do you mean by that?" she asks in confusion.

I side look at Aria, wondering if I should say something. Then I shake my head, "Nothing."

"But…" Emily tries to start, but I don't let her finish.

"If you guys want to get her back home, by all means do so. But I'm not helping someone who hated my guts just because I was your friend and less popular."

Then thankfully I see someone familiar park their truck across the street behind Spencer. She notices that not only am I looking that way, but so is Aria and Emily. So she whirls her body around just as Toby jumps out and walks this way.

"Come on." Aria whispers to me, grabbing my hand. "Lets go before she starts ambushing you again." she pulls me away to the stairs. Emily eventually catches on and follows us to give Spencer and Toby some privacy.

After school the following day Spencer goes to hang out with Toby, Aria said she was going home but she probably went to sneak off with Jake. Then Hanna and Emily both took off to meet up with some girls that may be linked to the girl who is buried in Alison's grave. According to Hanna this girl named Sara Harvey went missing around the same time Alison did that summer. This girl's friends agreed to meet up for a talk, kind of like a group session for a therapy type of thing.

While they are all going to do their own stuff I'm heading over to the store. I have my board in the trunk of Aria's car, so I grab that before she leaves and ride over. That's when I notice Ezra in front of the bookstore down the street from it. I ride closer, just getting to him when Mona pops up out of nowhere.

"Mr. Fitz!" she yells, making me stop in my tracks. "Hi."

"Hey." I hear him say.

She smiles at him, "You always have a book in your hands." she points.

He slightly laughs, seeming to feel awkward. "Oh. It just seems that way." then he turns his head and notices me. "Jessie." he gives me a look, as if pleading to help, "What are you doing here?"

I half smile as I kick my board up to my hands and walk closer. "Just going to open up the store."

"Always working." Mona says in her singsong voice, "That's what I admire so much about you."

I half smile, "Mhm."

"Have you started reading the book I assigned for homework last week?" Ezra asks me.

"Well I…"

"Oh!" Mona interrupts, "I wanted to tell you. I'm having a lovely time with Jekyll and Hyde."

"Oh." Ezra nods, looking away from me.

"It's just so gruesome. In a really good way."

"You would say that." I say under my breath. She gives me a look as she hears me, making me smile a mix of embarrassment that she heard and evilly because I don't like that she's acting innocent.

"Oh, I'm glad you're enjoying it." Ezra gets in, not seeming to see that me and her are having a moment. Or he does, and that's why he says what he does. Then he looks at me, "Now back to you. Have you started it?"

I start to blush a little in embarrassment. "Not exactly."

Ezra goes to answer that, but Mona interrupts again. "Typical, Jessie." she has a smile as she shakes her head in a disapproving way. "Always slacking off on her homework."

I give her a mean look, not having time to say anything before Ezra cuts in. "Jessie has actually been doing very well with her grades." he smiles at me. He knows me well enough to see the signs of me possibly exploding if he doesn't say anything. "I'm proud of you."

I slightly smile, blushing a little. "Thanks."

"You know." Mona gets in again. I'm about ready to deck her. "I'm happy you're teaching again."

He smiles and nods, "So am I."

"Spencer and Emily think you're the best." she smiles, "So does Aria." he gives me a look, and I scratch my face feeling a bit awkward. "I'm a little envious."

"Envious?" he asks in confusion.

"Of the other girls. The support they get. How they depending on you. Makes me think how much better I'd be doing if I found the right mentor."

I try to hide a laugh, but it comes out as a snort. "Sorry." I say, laughing now when they turn to me. "I call bullshit."

"Jessie." Ezra says, eyeing me like he doesn't want me to start her up.

"It's okay, Mr. Fitz. I know she is also very fond of you. You two are very close after all." she says this in a very mysterious way.

My face drops, heat rising in my cheeks. "Seriously, Mona? You're going to say it like that?"

Her face goes into innocent mode, "Say it like what, Jessie?"

"Don't be such a prick okay? If anyone passes by and doesn't know our history to why we are so close then the way you said it makes it seem like we are more than just friends."

"Oh!" she waves her hand dismissively, "That is not how I meant it at all."

"Save it, Mona."

"Jessie." Ezra gently puts his hand on my shoulder, "I think you should go to the store now."

I watch her as she smiles at me in her sweet way, but I can see behind that by now. I've seen her other side and all I want to do is knock her out. It amazes me how we had a mini connection that one time at lunch, but then things can go right back to how they used to be. But I agree to leave as I get back on my board and skate away. I wish I could hit that girl again.

Later on I'm getting ready to close up when Toby text's me to come over. That he has some great news. So as soon as I'm done I head over to the Brew, noticing that Caleb is by his car in front of the place.

"Hey." I walk over to him and he turns around. "MIA for a week and not even a hello when you came back?"

He laughs a little, "Sorry, I've been busy." He hugs me.

"When are we hanging out?"

He shrug, "Whenever I get back from Ravenswood again."

I raise an eyebrow, "Oh. Didn't realize you were going back."

He nods, "I have a few things to take care of."

I look to the side and see Hanna walking over. She looks upset. So I say bye and take off. He has been back for a few days now, but they have been seeming a bit distant lately. Thought I'd give them the space.

I head inside, buy two coffees and then walk over to the back of the Brew. I head up the steps and then knock on Toby's door. He pulls it open excitedly, a smile on his face.

"Someone's happy." I say, handing him his usual coffee and then walk inside when he moves to the side.

He laughs, closing the door behind him. "Me and Spencer just accomplished something big."

We sit on his sofa, "How big is big?"

He smiles, "We may be able to get Radley closed down."

My eyebrows go up, my mouth slightly falling. "What?"

He tells me how they went to the person who owns the crazy bin and how they threatened to spill his mom's not suicide all over the internet. That if they don't take this seriously they will make them look bad when they put it up. In the end this person gave a written letter saying that they will investigate. This seems to satisfy him, adding that Spencer's dad is going to help by trying to sue them to close it.

I'm shocked by this. Not only by the fact that Spencer got this going, but that Mr. Hastings was being helpful. "Tobs, I'm so happy for you." I smile.

His smile starts to fade a little, "There's a but. Isn't there?"

I half smile, slowly nodding. "Peter Hastings isn't one to do things out of the goodness of his heart. He's most likely doing this to get more popularity out of it. It's for himself, not for you."

He nods a few times, "So what if it is?"

I raise an eyebrow, "Seriously?"

He nods, "Yea. As long as it's closed down for good, who cares?"

"Okay…" I think about this, "Then where will Mona go when she snaps again?" I say, half serious, half joking. But mostly serious.

He laughs, "There are plenty of mental hospitals for her to go to if she does."

I nod a few times, "I've been thinking."

"Really?" He asks sarcastically, "That's nothing new."

I laugh, "Shut up."

He smiles, "What's going on?"

" _A_ has been a bit too quiet lately."

He nods, "They have."

"Think maybe we should look into that? See if we can pick up new leads?"

"Jessie, if we haven't gotten anything from these few months then why do you think we will now?"

I shrug, "Was just a thought."

In the end we are hyped up, so we head over to the apartment of my store to do some work on it. Then to celebrate him getting what he wanted for his mom's cause I grab one of the liquor bottles I have hidden here that my dad left behind when he died. I didn't want to put it in storage or leave it anywhere someone could get to it. But this seems like the right time to open one of them up.


	47. Chapter 47

**Hey guys. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

The next morning I wake up with a hangover. My head is pounding like crazy and my stomach kind of hurts, a bit of the puking feeling comes to it. Not as bad as I thought I would be though, which shocks me since liquor doesn't always go well with my stomach.

I remember enough of the night before to know that we were so drunk that we headed back to his place and started looking at clues about _A_ again. Trying to figure out what CeCe had to do with being a red coat. The girls may have taken her off the list but I still think she has something to do with this, even if she was helping Alison. Plus not to mention the link between her and that guy from the airport. What is she up to?

" _I think we should do it." Toby says from the top of a ladder as he paints the ceiling of the living room in my apartment white._

 _I look up at him as I sip a big gulp of vodka with one hand and paint the wall with primer with the other, "Do what?"_

" _Investigate more about A. You're right that they just disappeared. There is obviously something not right about that."_

 _As we look through photos, A notes, etc, at Toby's I'm stumbling over my feet half the time. We somehow managed to finish the whole bottle and I don't even remember doing it._

" _We can't tell them that we are looking into this again." Toby tells me, slurring his words a bit._

 _I shake my head multiple times, making myself see more doubled than I already was. "Duh. They'd totally kill us." I start laughing for no reason and try to walk over to the kitchen._

 _I wobble a bit too much for comfort as Toby follows me and grabs onto my arm before I can topple over. He sits me on the sofa, goes over to get me some water and then takes me to the spare room. I pass out as soon as I hit the soft bed._

I slowly open my eyes after that memory, the light blinding me as Toby's spare room comes into view. I turn over from the wall and lay onto my other side, looking down at my feet. Through the frame of the bedroom I see a blurry back of a head sitting at the sofa in the living room on the other side of the house. Clearly it's Toby, he's watching TV.

Then the door opens. "Housekeeping!" a high pitched voice of Spencer echoes in my brain, giving me a bigger headache.

I watch her walk over and sit next to him on the sofa as he turns off the TV. They start to talk a little bit. About how she notices that he isn't dressed to meet with her dad and he tells her that Peter had something to do and canceled an hour ago. She tells him that she is kind of happy that he did because she doesn't want her dad to get involved in this Radley thing, basically telling him the same thing I told him the night before. He just tells her what he told me about not caring as long as it gets closed down.

"But listen." he tells her, turning his head to where I am. "I hung out with Jessie last night and we were drinking. We over did it a bit."

She looks at me, "She slept over?"

He nods, "Yea. I didn't think it was a good idea to let her go home by herself since I wasn't exactly sober myself."

"Could have called me."

He gets quiet, probably giving her a look, "You would have given her a lecture about drinking."

"I would not have..." she stops, because he most likely gave her another look, "How much did she over do it?"

"Um…" he looks down, "Tripping over herself drunk."

"Toby!"

I close my eyes from her yell, because it hurts my head.

"See." he says, "You are over reacting."

She shakes her head, "Toby. You need to watch her when she drinks."

"Spencer, she's been through a lot."

"We have all been through a lot." she tells him, "But you don't see us getting drunk to deal with it."

"She was letting loose and letting out her feelings for once in a long time, Spence."

"Okay, fine, but…"

"Stop." he tells her, putting his hand up, "Leave it alone."

I find this as my cue to sit up, making them both look at me and then get up to walk this way. I grab my glasses just as Spencer walks into the room and sits on the end of the bed. Toby walks over to his kitchen.

"Have you been up all this time?"

I nod, regretting it at once when my head spins. "Yea."

"So you heard everything."

I slightly smile, "Even the part where Toby said he doesn't know how to make Flan."

She laughs, "I know how to make Flan."

"Why am I not surprised." Toby says when he walks through the frame of the door, handing me Advil and water.

"I know how to make it too." I take the Advil and pop it into my mouth.

"Well you're Hispanic. It's only part of your blood to know this."

I choke a bit on my water from laughing, "That's not stereotypical at all."

He laughs, "My bad." he watches me for a second, "I'm going to get you tea from downstairs."

I shake my head, "I don't like tea."

"Trust me, Jessie. You're going to thank me when you finish it. You'll be good as new." he walks out of the room and heads to his door.

When it slams behind him I look at her, she seems distracted as she tries to smile it off.

I take a deep breath, "Spill."

She raises her eyebrows, "Spill what?"

"I can tell when something is bothering you, Spence. Tell me."

She watches me for a second and then inhales deeply. I can see the wheels turning, as if trying to figure out how to start. "There's a diary of Ali's that was from Ravenswood." she finally says, "It has stories she wrote based off of her real life, and it seems that they are about us and whoever she interacts with."

I raise my eyebrows, "Wow."

She slowly nods, "Yea."

My mind flashes to the night she stuck me in the shed, "Am I in it?"

She shrugs, "Not sure. They have made up names to keep the identity of who they're about. Plus we kind of just found out about it last night."

I look at her in confusion, "If you found it in Ravenswood how are you only finding out about it?"

"Hanna hid it from us. I guess she couldn't hide it anymore." The door opens from the living room and she looks at me, "Don't tell him." she whispers.

"I can't keep lying to him about stuff like this, Spence." I whisper back.

He's almost to us now, "Jessie, please."

"I present to you….tea." Toby announces when he walks inside.

I look at Spencer in a bit of a mad way, then switch it quickly and take it from him. "Thanks, Tobs."

Well he's good on his word when he said the tea would help, because it does. A bit too well if I may admit. Because it helps enough that I can go to school since I don't have the puking sensation in my stomach anymore. So I get out of bed and head upstairs to take a quick shower and use an extra toothbrush he had. Then I run down to the Brew and grab a bagel. Spencer meets up with me after a bit of alone time with Toby and drops me off at home to get changed and then we head to school.

During free period I find Em sitting by herself at one of the tables in the courtyard. She is reading something on the table as I walk over and sit across from her, "Hey, Em."

She looks up from what I realize is actually a diary and smiles, "Hey, Jessie."

"What's with the Post It notes?" I point to the colored ones beside her.

She watches me for a second and half smiles, "Just decoding the diary." Spencer told the girls that she told me, so they don't have to worry about hiding this from me. "Each of us have a color and the white one is for the stories we don't know who it's about."

"Oh." I smile a bit, "Sounds exciting."

She looks up from the diary and eyes me for a few seconds, "I think I might of found stories that are about you."

My heart sinks, "W-What?"

She takes a deep breath and flips through the pages till she gets to one that has a white Post It. "There's two." She shows me another white Post It after a few pages of flipping from the other one and then passes it to me. "I found them last night."

I grab it and slide it closer to me on the table, pushing up my glasses. The title says _Four Eyed Cockblocker_.

 _I saw Four Eyes riding down the street without a care in the world as I walked by the abandoned house on Beach Street smoking a cig with MT and BC. Just watching her with that smile on her face when she passed under a street light boiled my emotions. She thinks she can take my girls away from me?_

 _I told MT and BC to follow me down the sidewalk as we ambushed Four Eyes on her skateboard when she got closer. The look on her face when she saw me and my older friends was priceless as she stopped and brought her skateboard to her hands. At first she looked scared when I called her her famous nickname, but then she got all brave and talked back. That's where she made her first mistake._

 _After a failed attempted to keep her away from MY friends I had MT and BC drag her to the abandoned house and into the shed in the back. Talking didn't seem to help, so we had to take it up a notch. I'll admit, it was satisfying to finally teach her a lesson._

 _The lack of breath she had as she gasped for air after BC kicked her put a smile on my face. But the second kick from MT that was harder than the first was even better to see. The air got caught in her throat so bad that she held onto her stomach and threw up. The look in her eyes when they punched her in the face made me swell up with excitement. She seemed to be begging._

 _It took longer than I expected for her to stand her ground, but she finally gave up and agreed to my terms. I can't believe I got Four Eyes to cave in after so much time wasted on this loser._

I turn the pages to bypass another story or two to get to my next story. I see it has the same title. I start to read through this one, realizing quickly that I forgot about this day. I had been so humiliated back that I blocked it out. Just typical Alison bullying, but back in seventh grade this was not a fun experience.

 _Four Eyes was such a dork today. My God, where did she come from? This is the girl that my best friends have been hanging out with before I saved them from their boring lives?_

 _I saw Four Eyes from down the hall, laughing it up with some of her friends. She was wearing a dorky shirt from that stupid movie Harry Potter. We are in seventh grade and she is walking around looking like that with her acne and glasses? Man I can't believe she is even around._

 _After the talk we had last week to keep her away from them it's been easy to give her a look and make her scamper away afraid of me. She is finally respecting me and that did not seem likely for awhile. So since my girls weren't around I was able to downgrade her to almost nothing. It was hard to resist the opportunity. I could get used to this._

I slowly look up from the diary to see that Emily is watching me. My breathing had gotten a little much to take as I read those, reminding me how much Alison made life in this town hell.

I didn't realize till now that Em had grabbed my hand to help me relax me,

"Those are about you...aren't they?"

I gulp so loud that it feels like everyone hears it. But I nod, "Y-Yea."

She's quiet for a few seconds, "What is the second story about?"

I shake my head, looking down at the book again. "Nothing, it was stupid."

"Jessie." she squeezes my hand and makes me stare up at her, "What happened?"

I take a few deep breaths, feeling my chest hurt. Now that I remember it, it's stuck in my head.

" _Four Eyes!" I hear Alison's intense voice roar through the packed hallway after school. "What are you wearing?"_

 _I slowly look away from my locker and stare at her, she's walking closer and all I want to do is get out of here as fast as I can. But too late, she's near me before I can even get my first book out of my locker._

" _Harry Potter. Really?"_

" _Yes." I try to sound tough rather than fearful as my voice cracks. It's only been a week since she had her friends give me that beating. I'm still healing from it and rather not have another one anytime soon._

" _Four Eyes, you need to grow up. That's for babies."_

" _You promised you'd stop calling me that if I left Aria and Spencer alone."_

 _She gives me her usual evil smile, "I didn't promise anything actually. But I had you going there for a minute didn't I?"_

 _I look at her for a second, then notice that everyone in the hall is watching us. "Yea." I nod, and close my locker, "Sure did."_

 _I go to walk away but she slams my back into my locker as a voice comes from across my locker, "Alison, leave her alone."_

 _I look over her shoulder as she turns around, Noel Kahn is watching us. He has a little bit of anger in his eyes. Everyone in the hallway is looking at him, not seeming to be able to believe that he said something to her._

" _Really, Noel? Sticking up for this loser?"_

" _She hasn't done anything to you."_

" _Just being a loser is enough to bother her. And you don't even know who she is."_

" _I do actually. She's been in my gym class all year."_

 _I slightly smile, but then she turns back to me and grabs my glasses, putting them on. "Look, everyone! I'm Four Eyes Brant. I have acne, wear glasses, have braces, haven't grown since the age of ten, LOVE (she does it in a mocking type of way) Harry Potter and have no friends!"_

 _Everyone starts to laugh their asses off, pointing at me and calling me a loser. The only ones who don't react that way is Noel and some of my friends that are just standing there and letting this all happened. Then she snaps my glasses in half and thrusts them to my chest. My eyes are watering with tears as I look at them in my hands._

" _Run along, Four Eyes. Have a good time with your Harry Potter toys."_

I went home that day and sat on the roof of the garage for hours. My parents were at work and Jeff had been hanging with friends. I remember Mike had to calm me down when he noticed me from his room. I made him promise not to tell anyone, especially not Aria.

"Jessie, why didn't you tell anyone she did these things to you?" Emily asks after I finally tell her.

I shake my head, playing around with the edge of the book with my finger. "I didn't want to make it worse."

"This is why you stopped talking to Aria and Spencer during seventh grade. And this is why you don't want to help us find her. You're still scared of her."

I look down at my hand, she's still holding onto it. Then I slide the book back to her and point to one of the colored Post Its. "Can I be one of the blue ones?"

I don't look back up to her, but I can feel her staring at me. She is most likely shocked that I went through that, but can't believe that I'm avoiding it.

"Sure." She says slowly, pulling her hand away from mine and I watch her grab both the blue colors. She holds them out and I point to the light blue.

"Wait." she looks at me, "If you put it on that means the others will know it's about me and want to read them."

She shakes her head, "No one is going to read the ones that have already been decoded. Everyone knows it private. That's the point of putting the Post It's on when we figure out which ones are about us."

"But you figured these were about me."

"I wasn't sure. But her putting Four Eyes made it kind of obvious it was you." she gives me a sad look.

I take a deep breath, "Great."

"I'm sorry that I never stuck up for you, Jessie. I should have."

I shrug, "It's fine."

She shakes her head, "It's really not." She pauses for a second, "And I'm sorry I read those. As soon as I thought it was your stories I should have stopped, but…"

I shake my head, "Don't worry about it."

She gets a little sad, then says. "Is there anything else that she's done that is that graphic or mean?"

I shake my head, "Nothing like that beat down. But once she broke me she figured out how to embarrass me more than she used to."

She shakes her head as she puts the Post It onto the pages. "The fact she enjoyed putting you through that makes it hard to grasp."

"I used to see her do stuff like that to others all the time. So it doesn't surprise me, Em. You guys were under her protection. You had nothing to worry about."

"Aria knows though, doesn't she? I could tell in her eyes when we were trying to get you to help that she knew something."

I slowly nod, "She just knew about me getting beat up, not about the humiliating broadcast of my flaws in front of everyone. But I only told her the day she told me Alison was alive."

Her eyebrows go up, "A week ago? You told her but not us a week ago."

"Em, I held this detail from my best friend for, like, six years. Don't take offense."

She gives me a half smile just as Aria and Spencer end up walking over. "Hey." they both say, Spencer sitting on my left and Aria on my right between me and Emily.

"Hey." We both say back.

I look at Em, she gives me a quick look and then turns the page back to what she had it on before I interrupted. It was like she was telling me she won't tell till I'm ready.

"Is it a page turner?" Spencer asks.

They start talking as I daze out, thinking about how inane Alison is. She wrote that in her diary like she didn't give a crap who read it. Like my life was a joke. She had her friends beat me up for the sake of keeping me away from the girls. If that's not psychotic then I don't know what she is.

Then Hanna pops up and sits across from Aria in between Spencer and Emily. She seems a little distracted as they explain about the diary and then spazzes out when Emily asks who wanted it next, forcing Spencer to take a turn. I decide to look over at the diary, hoping to avoid her seeing my color Post It.

"Did you know that Ali wrote poetry?" Spencer asks, not bothering to look up.

I watch her as she flips to the next page, but then gets distracted when Hanna starts talking again. So I take it from her this time and start to read a bit of the poems. Then Hanna all of a sudden blurts out that her and Caleb broke up when Emily asks when would we get to see him, making me look up from it. Then she plays it off like no big deal as she grabs the diary away from me to avoid our eyes and starts to read out loud a poem from it.

"I don't know what she's talking about but it rhymes okay." She says when she's done.

"Yea." Em gets out as we all look at each other, "Yea, it's not bad."

Before anyone could respond to her avoiding the Caleb thing Aria's face drops, "Wait. Wait. Give me that." she holds out her hand. She looks at it for a second, "Wait. Ali is describing the Busy Bee Inn." she looks at me.

I give a confused look. "The same one we used to go to as kids over in Killingworth?"

She nods, "Yea. With the bed and breakfast we would always eat at."

"Because of the aquarium your parents took us to."

After this they look up the place and find out that it's closed up. Another poem for it indicating that she may be hiding there. They decided to head over after Em gets out of work, asking if I want to come. Naturally I pass, which leaves Spencer still lost for words, but Hanna doesn't really seem too eager to involve me. But now that Em knows as well as Aria they just back me up with Spencer and tell her that they can go on their own.

"Em told me that she knows what happened with Ali." Aria tells me as we hang in our room.

I'm on my bed doing homework, laying on my stomach with my head towards the bottom while my feet rest on the pillow where the headrest is. I look at her on her own bed as she is doing her homework. "Oh." I nod, "Yea."

"I can't believe Ali wrote that in her diary."

"I can." I say flatly.

I hear her bed squeak and she sits beside me, "You sure you don't want the others to know?"

I just shake my head, because I'm tired of having this talk.

"It'll get them off your back on why you won't help."

"Let them think what they want about me, Aria. Let them think I'm being selfish for all I care. I don't need them feeling sorry for me about something that happened six years ago."

"But…"

"Aria." I look at her, "Enough, okay? If she comes back I'll deal with it. I'm not the same scared preteen who let people walk all over me. I know how to defend myself now."

She watches me for a second, "I get it. I do, Jessie. But defending yourself isn't the problem. It's having your friends to back you up."

I lay on my side and watch her, "So you're telling me that if Alison comes back you guys will still be there for me?"

Her eyes slant in confusion, "Of course. What kind of question is that?"

"The type that makes sense when back in sixth and seventh grade I saw you no more than, like, twice a month whenever we didn't have events with the family because Alison had a freaking leash on you guys." I lay back onto my stomach and start to write a math problem, "And school doesn't count."

"That's not true, Jessie."

I laugh a bit, but not in a nice way. "Of course you wouldn't notice something like not seeing your best friend. Alison made you feel so special that you were happier without me around."

"Jessie." she puts her hand on my back, "Stop."

I look at her, "Stop what? Telling the truth?"

She shakes her head, "This is what you thought of me when I was in her group?" she looks hurt as she asks.

My eyes water a bit. I didn't realize till now that since she's been back we never had an actual conversation about this. I've never let out my feelings of how I felt while she was part of Alison's group. I haven't done it with Spencer either. All because I wanted to leave it in the past. But now if Alison comes back then it's going to feel like nothing has changed.

I take a deep breath, "You weren't the same person I grew up with when you started hanging out with her. You let her pick on people, even me."

She shakes her head, "No."

"Yes!" I get off of my bed, standing beside it and look down at her. "You allowed her to call me Four Eyes for two years. You let her bump into me when I was in her way as she said something mean and then laughed along with her. What kind of best friend does that?"

We don't get to finish that conversation as she gets a text from Em saying she is outside. I'm so boiled that I bail on my homework when she leaves and play video games instead.

In the middle of my game when my phone beeps on the bed. Pausing it I get onto my knees to grab it from my bed. I sit back down onto the floor against her bed and open up the text.

" _Looks like you're learning your lesson after all. Friends don't always come first. Especially when it comes to Alison. -A_ "

I take a deep breath and send the message to Toby, telling him that we need to continue with this _A_ search ASAP. Then I toss my phone back onto my bed. Of course _A_ would pop in when I'm down. I so don't need this right now.


	48. Chapter 48

**Happy Halloween everyone! Here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **Enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not own PLL.** **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **PS...It's official. The Pretty Little Liars cast is now done with filming the series. An end of an error is growing near for the rest of us fans. I am not ready.**

* * *

Me and Aria have been on a bit of edge since that conversation. We haven't really talked much, not at home and not at school. Even been a bit distant with the girls because I feel like they'll just take her side. I mean, why wouldn't they? They were all in Alison's group. They have some type of special bond that I was forced out of with Aria and Spencer as soon as they joined it. So to avoid the awkwardness when I'm home I hang out with Mike. If I don't want to be there then I either go to the store or hang with one of the guys. Lately more so with Toby since I got that text.

"So _A_ is clearly still out there." Caleb says from the speaker of Toby's phone. "They just took a break from the girls."

Toby is sitting at my desk to the computer in my office and on the phone with Caleb at the same time to see if he got any other leads while out of Rosewood. While I'm laying on the sofa, my fingers squeezing between my nose from a headache. We can't find a damn thing about CeCe, who could have been after Alison enough to "kill her", nothing at all. But none of us are bringing the girls into this to help. I may be upset with this whole situation but that doesn't mean that I'm going to pile _A_ onto them while they don't have this person bothering them.

When Toby asked what the text I sent him from _A_ meant I told him that the girls wanted me to help them with all this again. With _A_ and finding out who killed Alison. But that I told them no. That the first half of the text probably meant that, but that the second half I wasn't sure. Which of course almost everything I told him except for the not wanting to help part was a lie.

"I still think it's CeCe." I tell them, "I mean, who else could it be? She just so happened to take off when Wilden was supposedly after her because she was scared, but then was able to be all buddy buddy with the guy from the airport during the lodge? I don't get why she was part of this lodge thing when Wilden was apparently part of it too."

"I agree she is sketchy, Jessie." Caleb says, "But there's nothing on her besides that she had some back and forth conversations with him and paid him off to get the plane to the lodge area."

I take a deep breath, "I knew I shouldn't have gotten involved in all this. You'd think I would have learned my lesson from Mona the first time around."

"You're just trying to help." Toby says.

"Yea, and look where that always gets me."

"Care to elaborate on that?" Caleb asks, making me realize that I said that outloud

I pull my hand away from my face. "Nevermind."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, "Well I have to go." Caleb says, "Talk soon."

"Be careful over there." I tell him.

"See ya." Toby adds and he hangs up. Then he looks at me and gets up, walking over to the sofa. He pulls my legs up and sits down, laying them onto his lap. "What's wrong?"

I inhale deeply, "Me and Ria are still not talking."

"All this because you told her you called quits on the _A_ search?"

I take a deep breath, I hate lying to him. "Yep."

"Then why are you going off on your own?"

"Seems safer to keep them out of my _A_ problem."

"Except it's not your problem. It's theirs."

"Maybe so, but let's just allow them to breathe for a little before it explodes in their faces again."

He slightly smiles at me. I can't sense if he knows that I'm lying or not, but I can tell that he agrees. Because him and Caleb have done the same thing multiple times to keep these girls safe. It's getting a little scary though that I've become the type of person who can figure out things to say without even thinking twice about not being truthful. This isn't even close to why I'm upset with her, but yet this is what I've agreed to say. I'm pissed at Aria, even a bit with the girls, and yet I'm still protecting them because I don't want them anywhere near this.

When I get home Aria isn't there. Her and Em went out. Turns out that Spencer and Emily have kind of been on the same route with each other as I am with Aria. Alison had asked Em to meet up and asked for her not to tell anyone. She decided to trust Spencer with this secret and it turns out that Spence took it upon herself to sneak after Emily and see what was going on because she didn't believe that Alison was actually trying to reach out to her. In reality she was and when she saw Spence sneak up on them she took off. Now Emily is pissed at her because Alison probably won't reach out again.

Tonight I have plans with Noel, Sean and his girlfriend to go watch the Yankees game at Noel's house. But till he comes to get me I'm at home, reading the next book in Rick Riordan's story called The Son of Neptune. It is part of the Percy Jackson universe in The Heroes of Olympus series. I got it last week as a surprise from Aunt Ella. It came out back in the beginning of October but I never had the time to go because of work, school, and _A_ absorbing my life.

A knock comes to my door, "Come in." I look up from it and Mike walks in.

"Hey." He smiles, "You have a minute?"

I nod, putting a bookmark in and closing it. "Sure. What's up?"

"Well." he starts, "You know how dad said I can have a few friends over tonight while he's away for the weekend?"

I slowly nod, "Yea."

He watches me, "Before I tell you can you be my friend. Not like my big sister? Just for tonight."

I sit up straighter, watching him friendly like. "Yes."

He smiles, "Okay. Well...I was kind of thinking of inviting more than a couple of friends over." he squishes his lips together, as if trying not to say too much.

"So you want to have a party."

He half smiles, "Um."

I smile, "Let's say that I would say yes. I'm not even going to be home tonight."

"So you could say yes, but when Aria gets home she's going to flip out."

I nod, "Exactly."

"Would you back me up?"

I think about this for a second, then smile. "Well if I'm being a friend, then why not?"

He smiles, "Jessie, you're awesome."

I shrug, "It happens."

He laughs, then hugs me. "Have fun with whatever you're doing tonight." then he leaves.

An hour later Aria and Emily walk into the room from the movie they went to see. Noel is running late to pick me up, which sucks. Because I was so hoping to avoid this run in until I got home later on.

"Seriously, Jessie?" Aria asks when she rips off my headphones off my head.

I sit up a bit more on my bed and give her a look, "Rude much?" I pause the music on my iPod.

"You let him have a party?"

"Will you chill out? He isn't doing anything a normal teenager wouldn't."

She shakes her head a few times, "Is this your way of getting back at me? To piss me off and allow my brother to do whatever the hell he wants? I'm responsible for him."

"You went out. So I was responsible for him at the time."

"And you thought it was a good idea? You're supposed to be his adult figure, _sister_ figure."

"I'm not his sister, Ria. I'm his friend."

Her eyes flame a little, shaking her head. "You are a real piece of work lately, Jessie."

"Guys." Em says, making us look at her. "I think we have more serious things to talk about besides him throwing a party."

"Like?" I ask a little bit mean as I raise an eyebrow to her.

"Mona."

"What about her?"

"Did you not notice that she was looking into your room?"

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, "Wait...she's _here_?"

They both look at each other, "Mike didn't tell you?" Aria asks.

I shake my head, "He just said he wanted more than a few people to come over. I got the hint he meant a party, but I didn't pry and ask who."

Aria's eyes get a little mad looking again. "This is why you can't act like his friend for something like this."

My phone buzzes beside me on the bed and I see that it's Noel. Even if he isn't here I figure that it's my cue to leave, so I get up. "I'm not having this conversation."

"Where the hell are you going? We aren't done talking."

I throw my iPod and headphones onto my bed. "To Noel's."

"But…" she looks at Emily, "He's so sketchy."

"No, he's my friend. And unlike how you acted when Alison was around, he has never changed with me. He's still the same Noel I knew even before people considered me "popular". What you guys have against him I'll never get."

She gets a little hurt as her eyes sadden, "Jessie, _I'm sorry_. How many times am I going to apologize for something I did at the ages of ten to twelve? _I was a kid_. You can't hold that against me."

"I'm not. I'm holding against you that you will change and act the same way you used to when she comes back from the "dead". Because in reality she won't be a different person and she'll have all four of you guys under her spell again. It'll be as if no time has passed."

"We won't let that happen." Emily tells me.

I look at her, "I'll believe that when I see it." then I walk out of the room.

Me, Noel, Sean and his girlfriend Piper are at his house watching the game. No one is home besides us. His parents are on business and his brother has the cabin for one of his parties for the night. He had asked if we wanted to go with him to hang at the cabin, but I didn't feel comfortable hanging with a bunch of college kids. And thankfully the other two weren't in the mood for it.

"Yo!" Noel yells, pointing at the TV in frustration, "What the hell, Jeter."

It's the last inning of the game and they are winning by two. Their shortstop, Derek Jeter, under throwing the ball made someone score with only one out. He rarely makes mistakes like that.

I look at him as I take a sip of my second beer, "Don't be yelling at the best player on the team, Kahn."

Sean puts out his fist from beside me, "You said it, Jessie. Jeter has the best baseball career of his time."

I smile and hit my fist against his as Noel turns to me, stuffing a piece of pizza into his mouth. "Did you see the way he threw that ball to first? He didn't even have a good grip on it before he tossed it over." he shakes his head and grabs his beer, "This is why I stick with the Phillies."

"Everyone has their bad throws. I've seen you make plenty of mistakes during your football games."

"Ohhhhhh." Sean mocks him, but I'm too busy looking at Noel to really pay attention. Then he says, "Um. Be right back." He gets up, holds out his hand to Piper and they both head over to the kitchen.

Neither of us are phased by this as Noel is staring me down, raising an eyebrow. "Low blow, Brant."

I slightly smile, "Tough."

"Tough?" He puts his beer down and readjusts his body, putting his leg under the other as he rests his arm on the back cushion. "Should we discuss how many times I've seen you toss the softball like shit while throwing it to home?" he smiles with his eyebrow in the air.

I shake my head, now turning my body to him. "No. Because I know I suck at softball."

His playful smile fades. "Jessie, I was just kidding."

I turn my gaze away from his blue eyes. I look at his hand dangling from the cushion beside me and tap his finger playfully. "Doesn't make it any less true."

From the corner of my eye I can see him watching me play with his finger, then he grabs my hand and smoothly slips his fingers between mine. "I've watched you play. You're the best first baseman I have seen on the Rosewood softball team."

I look away from our hands and stare up at his face. His smile makes me melt. "Are you hitting on me, Noel Kahn?"

His smile brightens, but his face gets red. "Maybe." He twists his thumb around mine. "Is that okay?"

I watch him for a second, my heart pounding like crazy. His eyes are staring into mine with so much passion that it's hard to remember that this guy has a reputation that's bigger than mine. But in this moment I don't see that guy, I see my friend. The same friend who has always had my back when people tried to downgrade me as a loser.

He lifts up his other arm, his hand going to my face and rubs my cheek gently with his thumb. He watches me for a few seconds as he smiles. Then without waiting for an okay from me he rests his hand on the side of my face, his fingers spread towards my neck and pulls me towards him, kissing me softly on the lips.

The feeling of his soft lips on mine makes my heart jump, my stomach going into a knot and I lose my breath for a second. Then my mind flashes to Blake, scaring me. But before I can react we hear the back door slam shut, both of us pushing away from each other and turning back to the TV just as the Yankees are celebrating their win.

"What did we miss?" Piper asks as she sits beside me.

I look at her and see that she is redoing her ponytail as Sean is smoothing down his hair. Guess we know what they've been up to.

I side look at Noel, who is smirking and shakes his head, "Nothing much."

My heart is still pounding from that flashback. Or was it from the kiss? I don't know, but I can't decide whether I liked it or was too terrified to really be able to enjoy it. I never thought I'd be kissing someone again this soon, let alone _Noel Freaking Kahn_ of all people.

When we leave his house I have Noel drop me off at the store, claiming I have some stuff to do. But in reality I'm sleeping in my office to avoid Aria after that little interaction we had today. I need my space.

Before I can get out he grabs my arm as I'm leaning towards opening the door. "Hey."

I slowly turn to him.

"You okay? You've been distracted since…you know, I kissed you."

I take a deep breath. "I…"

"You don't feel the same." He interrupts.

"No." I shake my head, "Noel. It's not that."

"Then what?" He turns his body more to me, "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing. You didn't do anything wrong. It's me."

His eyes get a little sad. "Like I've never heard that one before. You know how many times _I've_ used that line?"

I shake my head multiple times in protest, "No, Noel. Seriously." I take a deep breath. "The last time I kissed someone was Blake." my eyes shift away for a second, then back to him. "And you know how that ended."

His eyes widen, "Oh my God." He shakes his head, putting his hand on his forehead. "I'm such an idiot." He looks back at me as he puts his hand down on his knee. "I'm sorry."

I shake my head, "Don't be. You're the only one who hasn't treated me like glass since it's happened. You haven't reminded me of it."

"Until now."

I half smile, "But you've always acted normal with me, even when I do stuff like this. I appreciate that."

He slightly smiles, putting his hand up for a second but then thinks better of it and sets it back onto his leg. "I don't want you to feel scared around me the way he made you. I won't do what he did."

I lean closer, putting my hand to the back if his head and rub his silky short black hair, "I know." I smile, then kiss him gently on the cheek. "I'll see you at school." Then I get out and head to the store.


	49. Chapter 49

**Hey everyone. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform get the credit.**

 **Enjoy and please review!**

* * *

My nightmares are all over the place tonight. It starts backwards with the most recent bad thing to happen. First it starts with Blake, then to Meredith going crazy. Some random dream comes after those, about me being stabbed in the side from what I'm assuming is a repressed memory from the drug Nate gave me to forget that day. Then it switches to when Mona took me, and lastly the accident. I didn't think it could be any worse than watching my family die, but I was wrong.

 _The sound of the car crashing echoes in my ears, Jeff being unconscious beside me. Then something new happens...he wakes up._

 _My heart sinks as I watch him, wanting to talk to him. But the words get caught in my throat as he struggles with his seatbelt and is yelling. For some reason though I can't hear him. Then he stops moving around and turns to me, his face is unreadable and the scene gets weirder, scarier as blood starts to spill everywhere. Out of his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his ears._

 _My stomach turns from feeling sick. My breath gets caught in my throat, "Jeff?"_

" _You let me die. You left me behind." he says in a serious tone as blood continues to ooze out of him._

 _I shake my head, even in a dream I can feel the blood rushing to my head from being upside down. "I didn't mean to."_

 _The car starts to smoke and the flames come. "You let me burn."_

"Jeff!" I sit up in a sweat of panic from the couch in my office, my heart pounding hard against my chest. The light from the lamp on my desk is lighting up the windowless room.

I can hardly grasp what I dreamt about this time. They are getting more detailed and graphic by the day. First the one about Blake killing Aria and now this? What does this one mean? The guilt of getting out and living without them?

I don't know what day it is until I grab my phone from the nightstand next to the couch just as my alarm starts to ring. Its Monday morning, meaning that it's time to get ready for school. This is the third night I stayed here since mine and Aria's Friday night fight. I've kind of refused to stay home since then.

I get up and grab my toothbrush and toothpaste from my desk. I used to have such a bad habit of sleeping here some nights when I first inherited the store that I started leaving extra stuff here. I even have a plastic container in the hallway closet with some extra clothes. But since I knew I'd be staying here again I went home and made sure I had all my stuff for school ready.

When I walk out of the store, I lock the door. Then I hear my name from behind me. I turn around to see Andrew, resting his arm out his car window.

"What are you doing here so early?" he asks.

I fix my backpack on my shoulder and walk across the street to his car. "Had stuff to do."

He gives me a look. He can always tell when I'm lying. "We may not be dating anymore but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. What's really going on?"

I take a breath and shake my head, "Just some differences between me and Aria."

"You've been sleeping here. Haven't you?"

I bite my bottom lip from feeling uncomfortable, "I have to go."

He grabs my hand before I lift it off of the window. "Let me give you a ride."

I watch him for a second and then nod, "Sure."

Since that surprise kiss from Noel Friday night we haven't really talked much about it other than that he didn't regret it but won't push me into anything, which I appreciate. I have to admit that it's been on my mind throughout the weekend, but I'm a bit afraid. After Blake I don't know if I can be the same person I was with a guy in that way anymore. I know I can trust him but at the same time I feel like I can't. Not his fault of course, it's mine. However, I did tell him that I enjoyed his confidence to act on his feelings.

So when I walk into school I'm not too surprised to see him leaning up against my locker with his phone in his hands. He seems to be very into texting someone.

My heart skips a beat when I see him. Then I can feel my face turning a bit red. I haven't told anyone what happened. And the fact that Andrew is walking right beside me all the way till we get to my locker makes me a bit nervous.

"Hey, Noel." I say shyly.

He looks up from his phone and turns to me. His face lights up, "Hey, beautiful." he wraps his arms around me and squeezes.

My face burns up from blushing. The familiar sensation of loving the hug and feeling safe swarms me. When we pull away I see Andrew is watching me in what seems to be confusion...or maybe it's jealousy? Then he snaps out of it and stretches out his hand when he notices that Noel is waiting for a shake.

"How you doing, man?" Noel asks, "It's been awhile."

Andrew half smiles, seeming to be wondering what's going on with us. "Been good. Just a bit busy with basketball."

"I hear it's been brutal. Sean's getting his ass kicked with it this year."

Andrew nods, "It's definitely different from last year."

My heart hurts a bit from the talk of basketball. I hate the feeling of not being able to play my favorite sport. I can't even see some of my friends on the team or walk past Mr. Brooks room without feeling upset about it. Mr. Brooks has apologized for kicking me off the team multiple times, he feels really bad about it and seems to not be able to let it go. But I can't let him take all the blame for it. I screwed up my chances when I let the girls and _A_ take over my life.

I poke Noel on his stomach, feeling his abs when I do. My stomach kind of flips in excitement for a second and then he looks down at me. Trying not to blush I ask if he can scoot over so I can get to my locker. He just smiles and moves to the side, not really reacting more than that as he continues talking to Andrew. I have a feeling he would have made some comment if my ex wasn't standing right beside us.

Then Em pops up at her locker, making me look to the side. She has a slight smile. "Morning."

I half smile back, trying not to make things awkward. "Hey."

She's a little speechless for a second and then stares at the boys. "Friendly all of a sudden aren't they." She whispers.

I turn to them as they are in a deep convo, both sets of blue eyes glued to each other as they talk. Noel is about an inch shorter than Andrew, so he has to look up a little.

I turn back to my locker and shrug, taking out books and stuffing them into my backpack. "They've always been on talking terms."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, probably trying to figure out how not to set me off. "I heard you didn't stick around at home this weekend."

"Nope." I try to say nicely, now starting to rearrange my locker to keep my anxiety at bay.

"You're really that upset with Aria? With _us_?"

I take a deep breath, "Yes…." I think for a second, shrugging. "I don't know."

In reality I'm not sure why I've been avoiding Aria and giving them the cold shoulder. Because of something they did as kids? No, it's because of _Alison_. I guess I'm overreacting a bit and letting this whole situation get the better of me.

"Look." I close my locker and turn to her just as Hanna gets to us."I'm mad because of…"

"How Ali treated you and how we let her do it. You're afraid it'll happen again when she comes home." Emily nods, "I understand your reasoning, Jessie. But it was in the past. Aria made a mistake. We _all_ made a mistake allowing Ali to do that to you and to others. But like Aria said, we were kids. We made a friend who was cool and we thought we needed to be like her. At that age we didn't really know better."

"If I could take it back I would." Hanna gets into the conversation now.

"We all would." Spencer comes out of nowhere, "I'm sorry I allowed Ali to hurt you."

Emily eyes Spencer for a second and then turns to me. "Me too."

"And me." Hanna adds.

I watch them all for a second, smiling a bit and then take a deep breath. "And I'm sorry that I let my anger get the better of me. It's really hard to hear that my old bully is planning on coming back. I thought I was done with that when Amber left."

"We won't let her hurt you." Spencer says.

"She's different, Jessie." Emily adds, "I could tell when I saw her the other day. She's not the same."

I slowly nod, "I hope you're right."

After a little bit of awkward silence Hanna starts to talk to Em as I tune them out and turn back to the boys. They are still bonding over sports. But when I turn back to the girls it's a different vibe. Spencer is now trying to talk to Em. She doesn't allow her to say more than a few words though as she slams her locker and walks away, leaving Spencer looking sad. Maybe she's over reacting too?

From here I head out towards the courtyard with Noel when Andrew goes to his locker. Hanna and Spencer are in a deep conversation that I'm assuming is about how Em is avoiding her. When we get into the courtyard I see that Aria is standing in the middle of it, looking over to the side. I look over to where she is and notice that Mike and Mona are getting really cuddly and touchy. That is probably not a good sign.

"Hey." I look up at him, "Can I talk to you later? I need…" I look at Aria, "I need to fix this stupid fight I started with her."

He slightly smiles, "You're cute. Always trying to make the best out of things."

I blush a little from being called cute. "It's in my nature."

He laughs and kisses me on the cheek. "I'll text you." then he turns around and walks out of the courtyard.

I turn around and notice that Mona and Aria are now talking. Mike however is gone. I don't think this is a good thing, so I head over to them and just make out Mona saying, "Okay. Jesse warned me that this would happen."

Aria turns to me when she notices that I'm now beside her, "You're all buddy buddy with Mona now too?" she sounds a little ticked off.

I raise my eyebrow, "What? No. I don't know what she's talking about."

"Not this Jessie." Mona says, "Jesse the new guidance counselor. He's the best thing that's happened to this school since we got a coffee cart."

They talk for a bit more, getting a bit loud with each other about how Aria feels that she is using her brother to get to her. How she thinks Mona has an agenda for becoming close to him because she always has a plan when it comes to them. In response Mona disagrees. She thinks that they are the ones with an agenda.

They have a few more back and forth comments and then when they stop sniping at each other Mona looks at me. "I think you need to space yourself from them a bit more than you already have. I have a feeling they are going to get you into some deep trouble next time you have an _A_ run in."

"Thanks for the warning. But I don't think I can get in more trouble than what you put me through."

She watches me for a second, "Don't come running to me for help then."

"Have I ever?"

Her eyes get a little mean, "Whatever." she bumps me as she walks off.

"Mona." she turns around to me, "Leave Mike alone."

"Bite me, Jessie." she turns on her heels and leaves the courtyard.

I watch her walk away, then turn to Aria. She has a look of feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry." we both say at the same time. I smile a little while she laughs.

"No." I shake my head. "Seriously, I'm sorry. I completely overreacted on this who Alison thing."

Now she shakes her head, "No. I understand why you have been distant and angry. I did mess up big time when I went to her group. I shouldn't have treated you like that. I shouldn't have allowed _her_ to treat you like that."

I take a deep breath, "Don't worry about it. It's in the past."

She half smiles, "What if she does come back though? Will you be okay?"

My heart races a little as I think of her coming back to town. "I'll figure it out."

A couple days later I'm walking down the hallway after school and see Andrew hanging over by Spencer's locker. He's leaning up against the one beside it as she puts stuff inside. He has a massive smile on his face as they talk, the same look on that he used to have with me whenever he saw me. Then he makes eye contact when I pass by, but his smile doesn't fade as he looks back at her and puts his hand on her shoulder, laughing.

I walk faster past them and head over to the front doors. I know what he's doing. He's trying to get me jealous because _he's_ probably jealous. The only reason why he's doing that is because he's seen me hanging with Noel for the past few days during school, and since he already had a connection with Spencer in that one time betrayal to me he thinks he can get to me. Since I don't have feelings for him anymore I shouldn't feel anything towards what he's doing, but I do. Why? Because he's hitting on one of my best friends to make me feel bad and it's not right. He could go for any girl but he's going for Spencer? I'd get if he had true feelings for her, because I'd respect him moving on. But I know that's not what he's doing.

I skate home instead of heading to the store and to my surprise Mona is walking out of the bathroom, making me almost run into her.

"Shit, Mona."

"Sorry. Didn't see you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I invited her." I look where the voice came from and see Mike walk out of his room.

"Oh."

He half smiles, "I guess it's probably the right time to tell you that we are seeing each other?"

I watch him for a second, hoping that he'll crack a smile and yell that he's just kidding. But no, his face is serious. "What?"

He walks closer and grabs her hand, slipping his fingers between hers. "We are dating, Jessie. I really like her."

I'm trying hard not to laugh at this, while also trying not to let my mouth drop in shock. When I don't answer he asks Mona to go to his room, closing the door behind her.

Once she's out of earshot I say, "Are you hoping that I'm going to congratulate you or something?"

He half smiles, "No. I just hope that you can try and get along."

"Mikey…"

"Look, I know she put you through so much. But she isn't the same."

"How do you know that though? She is very good at pretending. I'd know."

He shakes his head, "She's not. I can feel it."

I smile slightly, thinking about this for a second. I'm not exactly happy about this, but I know that if the girls find out about me and Noel kissing I'd want them to get along if we decide to be more. Because I know they feel the same way about him that we all feel about Mona.

So I nod, "Sure. As long as you're happy."

He smiles and nods, "I am."

Then my face drops, "Wait...Aria is going to kill you."

Now his face drops, "I know."

"Oh, Mikey."

"I'll figure it out. I know she is going to be harder to convince."

Maybe an hour later Mona and Mike leave. So I'm home by myself until Aria gets home a couple hours later. I hear the door slam from her coming inside but she never comes up to our room. Then another hour passes, her still not coming up when I hear multiple people talking. By the time I finish my last page from an essay and head down to see what's going on I see all four girls here. I'm shocked to see that Em and Spencer are in the family room without arguing. But that passes when I notice that for some reason the three of them are looking into Hanna's mouth with a flashlight.

I clear my throat, "What the hell are you guys doing?"

They all look over to me, " _A_ stuck something in Hanna's tooth." Emily tells me.

I slant my eyebrows in confusion. "Um...what?"

"Aria, give me the tweezers." Spencer says.

I start to walk closer as she sticks it inside and pulls something out. It's a tiny piece of paper. Spencer unfolds it when I get to them but can't read it 'cause it's too small. So Em grabs a magnifying glass from the study and hands it to her.

Spencer puts it to the paper and reads, "I told you. Dead girls can't smile. Stop looking. -A"

We all look at each other, my mouth dropping in shock. "What the hell."

I don't even want to stick around at this point. I try to give them the advice to leave this alone, to stop looking for Alison. Because clearly they are either getting close enough that _A_ is threatening them to this weird point or _A_ really wants to get to her first. When they don't listen I tell them I'm going out. I'm just too freaked about this. So I grab the rest of my homework and head over to the store. I need somewhere quiet to work and I'm clearly not going to get it here while they are all trying to figure this out. So I let them know that if they really need me to call me, but not unless it's important.

I get through two of my homework out of about five of what remained. I'm so behind I feel like I'm drowning in it. I'm sitting at the desk in my office, trying to concentrate on this. But it's a little hard when I just saw Spencer pull out an _A_ note from Hanna's mouth. So I take a break and get onto my computer, going to the website I always buy my supplies.

A few minutes later I get a text from Noel, asking if I'm busy. I think long and hard about this. It's a school night and I don't have much else to do. My homework can wait since I did all the ones due tomorrow. I'll probably regret this but I type that I'm free and ask him to pass by.

He's here in maybe fifteen minutes as I hear a knock on the front door. When I get to it he has the biggest smile on his face, holding out a bag from the Grille.

"Hey, cutie." he says, leaning down to kiss me on the cheek and walks inside.

I blush a little. "Had nothing to do today?" I close the door and lock it.

He follows me to my office and sets the bag of food onto the floor as he sits and crisscrosses his legs. "Not really." He leans his back against the couch and taps the floor beside him. "Just been thinking about you all day."

I blush again and sit next to him as he hands me a chicken wrap and Pepsi. "Wow. You pay attention."

He smiles, "Only to the girls I really like."

I smile a bit. Now I see why he gets girls so easily.

We eat our food and talk for about a half hour. All my homework in the back of my mind now. We are in the middle of talking about how we both don't know what we want to do for college. Me because now I'm limited on my option of spots since my plan was to go pro. I didn't even have a legit plan for an educated reason to go to college. While he has never really taken school seriously and now seems to realize that his time is going to run out after senior year is done and has no idea what to do in life.

"We have a lot of time. I'm sure you'll figure it out." I tell him.

He smiles, "Same with you, Brant. You have a lot of talent though. Especially in the art aspect of things. You should considering being one."

I shrug, "My heart has never been into drawing as I was with basketball."

"Maybe basketball was never your destiny. Maybe you getting kicked off the team was a sign to broaden your options and find your true passion….some type of artist. Because I know you have more in you besides drawing."

I go to say something, but I'm stopped by the way he is looking at me. The passion in his eyes as he looks into mine makes my heart jump.

He smoothes my bangs behind my ear, placing his hand behind my neck, "You are beautiful."

My breath gets caught in my throat. How can he think that? I look like I rolled out of bed. I'm in baggy sweatpants, a ripped up long sleeved Rutgers softball shirt I've had since the sixth grade that I got from one of my cousins, and a messy ponytail that I put it into when I got too lazy to do my hair after I showered.

The look in his eyes is hypnotizing as he stares into mine. But to my surprise he doesn't do anything as he just pulls away his hand and starts talking about sports instead. He really is taking what I said about not being ready seriously.

It's around ten when Noel's phone rings. "I have to go." He tells me, "My brother needs me to help him with something."

"This late?"

"Apparently it's important." I walk him to the door,. "I'll call you." he kisses me on the cheek and then walks out of the store.

I get myself ready to head home then check my phone when I remember that someone had text me earlier. " _Hey there. I'm going to be in Philly tomorrow to do some research for a school project in the afternoon. Meet up after?_ " it's from Wes.

I take a few deep breaths then answer back. "Sounds cool. Meet at the Brew?"

" _Great. See you tomorrow =)_ "


	50. Chapter 50

**Here you go everyone. Another chapter.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**

 **I do not own.** **Pretty Little Liars belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

The next day sometime after school I meet up with some of my friends to get some softball in. It's a little chilly, but that doesn't stop us from playing. I'm all into this game until Luna shows up out of nowhere with her brother and a few of their friends. Without thinking too much into it I ignore that they are getting closer to the field, just keeping my head into the game. That is till we hear a yell from behind the fence that divides the field and the section where the fans would sit to watch the game.

"Still playing with the liar!" their friend Jose yells. "Thought you had more sense than to allow an attention seeker like that to stay your friend."

I had just caught a grounder that got hit to me from Freya when he yelled, so I stuff my hand into my glove and squeeze onto the ball to keep me from saying something I might regret. I watch as Luna and Kyle stare without showing much sympathy towards what is going on. To not so much of a surprise, Emma and Rachel are right with them. Luna has seemed to gotten a little closer to them since I left basketball. Makes sense since she distanced herself from Carter and Tori when they took my side. We were really the only ones she hung out with from the varsity team.

"Got nothing to say, Four Eyes?" Rachel yells, a smile on her face. I'm sure she's missed calling me that ever since Amber and Tommy left Rosewood High.

They all end up by the fence where first base and right field is and I walk closer to them. I slant my eyebrows in anger, "Don't call me that." I say through gritted teeth, making me think all over again about how if Alison comes home I'll be right at the bottom of the popularity food chain again.

"Aww, boo-hoo. Brant doesn't like her old nickname." Emma says, pouting her lips in a mocking way.

I take a deep breath as they all laugh at me, "Didn't think much of you guys being bullies." I look at the Rouches while the other girls start to stand beside me one by one.

They both smile a little evilly at me. Luna's spark of madness coming out a bit as she watches me. "Guess you didn't know us as well as you thought."

"And here I thought you'd have my back because you were two of my close friends." I say in a sarcastic tone, but I do mean it.

"You lost that once my brother was sent to Juvie." Kyle tells me, his arms crossed over his chest in a pissed off way.

"You said you'd always be there for me, Lune." Now my tone is serious.

She doesn't even hesitate or show sympathy as she says, "Times change."

I try not to let my face show that her not having my back hurts, "No, people change. _They changed you._ " I put a lot of angry emotion into those words as I point to her "friends".

Apparently this is the wrong move as Rachel grabs onto my hoodie and pulls me to her. My face is right up in hers as my stomach grazes the low fencing. "Want me to change your face, Brant?"

"Leave her alone, Rachel!" Kelly yells, pulling a bit on my arm as she tries to help me get out of her grip.

No one reacts fast enough to help Kelly as Rachel is so much stronger than me that she manages to pull me right over the fence. I land hard onto the grass and lose my breath from the pain that goes through my entire body. The girls yell in panic and jump the fence too as Rachel and them all laugh at me.

Carter and Danielle help me to my feet. "You okay?" Danielle asks.

I slowly nod, trying to catch my breath. "Y-Yea."

She stares up at me for a few seconds, her brown eyes looking a bit scared. As much as we are all used to having people bother me every once in awhile, it seems she's still terrified every time something happens.

I shift my eyes away from her and stare back at Rachel, "Jeez. Are you on steroids or something."

"Don't be such a smartass."

"I know why you called rape on someone who didn't even do anything." Emma says out of nowhere, smiling.

"She didn't say he raped her." Freya gets into it, "How many times is she going to go through this."

"Oh _fine_." Emma says, rolling her eyes at me, "I know why you called "attempted rape" and assault on him."

Now I roll my eyes, "Humor me."

"You've been into Noel this whole time. You just wanted a reason to get rid of Blake."

My mouth slowly drops, "What? Are you out of your mind?"

"Nope." she says, "I see the way you two look at each other. You guys are totally banging, and yet he is still safe and sound away from Juvie."

"You are crazy."

"But you aren't denying that you two are an item."

"We aren't anything. We are just friends." I mean, it's not exactly a lie. We had the one kiss and it hasn't happened since. But I don't need to give her the satisfaction of finding out that we have a bit of a connection.

Luna laughs, "Yea, sure. Friends with _benefits_." she shakes her head, "I can't believe you."

"Luna, I didn't…."

No time to finish that sentence as she gives me a good punch to the jaw, my glasses flying off from the force of the hit. This is a completely insane idea to do because she knows that I don't take threats like that well. My emotions kick in so fast from all the times I've wanted to kick her ass for doing what she has that I don't hesitate to tackle her to the ground. I punch her in the face so hard that her nose bursts into blood. Then she decks me again and gets me in the eye. We have no more time to hit when someone lifts me off of her and pulls me away.

"I hate you!" Luna yells at me as Kyle gets her to her feet and holds her back. Her nose is gushing with blood and looks like it's swelling up. "I can't believe we were ever friends."

Tori is standing behind me with both of her arms looped between mine, holding my arms behind my back to keep me from going after her. "Well then I guess it's a good thing we aren't anymore!" My right eye is starting to see blurrier than usual without my glasses. It feels like it's closing up from the punch. "Stay away from me."

"No problem." she starts to get pulled away, "And when Blake gets home don't you dare talk to him."

I laugh, "Wouldn't do that even if he wanted to."

"Bitch!"

"Jerk!"

And just like that, the words that we used to use from the TV show Supernatural as a playful thing between friends turned into hateful words as enemies.

I get home and am a little surprised to find the house empty. It's not even the weekend, but it seems like everyone is out. So I don't have to worry about anyone seeing me as I head upstairs to shower. When I look into the mirror I see that my eye is noticeably black and blue, and a little puffy. My jaw even has a bit of a dark mark on it too. Figures that when I have plans is when I get into a fight.

I wait about two hours, hanging in my room to catch up on my homework when my phone beeps. Wes is done with what he needed to do in Philly and is now on his way to Rosewood. Little did I know that when I'd head into the Brew to wait for him that the girls were going to be there.

 _Crap_. I think to myself when I see them sitting over by their usual spot. So I go to the counter to order a coffee and bagel and hope for the best that they won't notice me.

With my wonderful luck though I don't run into them, I run into Andrew. "Jessie."

I turn around and look up at him, my face dropping. "Oh, hey."

His eyebrows go up, "What happened to your face?"

I shake my head, "Nothing. I just...I got into a fight with Luna."

"Luna?" his mouth drops a little, then recovers. "Wow."

"Doesn't look like I'm getting that friendship back."

He shrugs, shaking his head a few times. "Who cares. If her and Kyle think that you did this to Blake on purpose then it's their idiocy getting in the way."

I half smile, "Thanks."

He nods, "Well. I have to go." he goes to lean in to hug me, but I give him a look. "What?"

"You know I saw you being flirty with Spencer yesterday, right?"

His face drops a little, "I wasn't…"

"You realize she has a boyfriend. Who happens to be one of my best friends."

"I know that, but..."

"Then what are you doing?" I of course know what he's doing, but I rather play dumb.

He half smiles, "Jessie, it was just an innocent conversation between friends."

I slowly nod, trying to keep a smile on my face. "Of course."

He smiles a little at me, his expression now seeming confused and hurt. "I'll see you around?" He tries to sound friendly enough not to raise his voice. I think I hit a weak spot.

I smile and nod, "Yea."

He gives me a hug and then takes off. I feel a little bad attacking him like that. Because even though he was hitting on Spencer to get me pissed I have to appreciate that he was so into being there for me when he saw I was hurt. He gives me so many mixed feelings sometimes.

The girls never notice me for some reason. So I quickly order two coffees for me and Wes when I get to the front of the line and then we meet at the park instead.

"Whoa." he says when he sees my face, "Bet someone lost that fight against you."

I laugh, "Sure as hell did. I ripped her apart."

He slightly rubs his pointer finger onto my bruised jaw. "Wouldn't surprise me."

I smile a bit as he hugs me and then we sit down on the bench. We talk for awhile, just being random and having a good laugh. Then we take a walk. He seems to notice that I'm a bit distracted as well, so when he asks what's wrong I just tell him that I'm a little confused with my life right now.

"What's up?"

I shake my head, shrugging. "Everything." I take a breath, "My life has gotten so complicated with school, guys...friends."

"Example?"

I look up at him, his brown eyes are staring at me so softly it's like he is grasping every word. "I'm still having nightmares about Blake. It's making me physically exhausted because I feel like I'm always watching my back. It has a lot of people worried."

"You've been through a lot more than anyone at our age should. Yet you've been able to get through them all. This is going to take you a bit of time, but you will figure out how to be yourself again."

I slightly smile, then think about how to say the next thing on my mind before I do, "I'm also emotionally confused about my feelings with others."

He slowly nods, "So this is about a guy."

I half smile and nod. If he likes me I'm not making his hopes of being together any better. I can definitely see us becoming more than friends, but he doesn't live close enough to be able to make it work. The long distance thing has never been my forte. Plus I think I'm starting to like Noel more than him.

"Well...I think you are strong enough to move past all the emotions you are feeling. The confusion, fear. Whether you are ready for a relationship now or not is perfectly fine too. Just start slow, build up with the guy you like and see where and when things start to spark."

That's actually really good advice for someone who had no idea whether I was talking about him or someone else. After that we head back to where his car is because it's starting to get late so he can drive me home. The night was fun, not awkward. I feel like I've gained another really good friend.

Once I'm inside Uncle Byron scares the hell out of me. "What the hell happened to you!"

I honestly didn't even notice he was sitting in the family room until he yelled. He scares me so bad that I jump a good foot in the air. "Jeez, Uncle Byron. Clear your throat next time."

"Don't change the subject. What did you do to…"

"My face." I say, nodding. "Yea, everyone has been asking me that today."

He raises his eyebrows, "Well?"

I take a breath and sit beside him. "Luna. We got into a fight."

" _What_?"

"I took care of it."

"Jessie."

"Seriously, I'm fine."

"Please tell me you didn't start it."

I slightly smile, my reputation from last year of starting with people still lingers around. "No. She threw the first punch."

When I get upstairs luckily Aria isn't here. So I get into my PJ's and head straight to bed. The next morning though is when I have to explain what happened. Thankfully she doesn't give me a lecture and we just head to school.

School isn't the best place to be after that fight. What happened between me and Luna spreads like wildfire and everyone is either supporting that I hit her or against me because they are backing her up. So it is a bit of a rough day. I even get pulled into Hackett's office with Luna because he wants to know who started it. Even though it was off school property he does not appreciate that our actions is wilding people up in the halls.

"It was just a misunderstanding." Luna says, side looking at me. Her nose isn't broken but it's so dark that it looks like she rubbed black makeup on it. "It won't happen again."

He looks at me, "Was it?"

I slightly smile and nod, "Yea. Promise it won't happened again."

He eyes both of us and then tells us to leave. If we had started this at school then I'm sure we both would have been suspended or something. But since it wasn't and neither of us are talking then there is not much he can do about it.

So once we are out of sight of the office she side bumps me into a wall. " _Don't_ touch me." I tell her as I push myself off the wall, so wanting to swing at her again.

She looks behind her shoulder to me as she walks away, "Then stop playing the victim."

"I'm _not_!"

"Tell Blake that." then she takes off down the hallway.

"You okay?"

I look behind me and see Ezra. "Yea." I half smile as I rub my arm. "I'm fine." I look up at him, "Are you? You've seemed a little distracted lately."

He smiles, "I'm fine. Just a lot of work stuff."

I watch him for a few seconds, "You know I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying, right?"

He laughs, his face not changing the way it normally does when he gets caught. "I'm fine, Jessie. Honest."

I continue to watch him, no change in emotion. Maybe I'm losing my touch. Then the late bell rings for last period to start and my heart sinks. "Oh crap."

"I'll give you a late pass."

We start to walk down the hall, "Should write one for yourself too."

He laughs, "I'm on my prep."

"Oh. Right."

When I get out of his class with a late pass in my pocket I walk down the hall to the stairs to head to ceramics. I get to the top and as I'm going to walk around the corner I feel a hand wrap around my wrist and pulls me backwards, pinning me to a wall.

For a second my mind races in fear, then I look up and see the blue eyes of Noel. "Hey." he has a bright smile on his face.

I smile, then hit him on the chest. "Asshole, you scared the hell out of me."

"Ow." He rubs his chest as he laughs, "You have a mean right hook."

"Which is why Luna ended up with a messed up nose."

He nods approvingly, "I saw." He reaches up to my face and gently touches my bruised jaw and eye, "I'm glad you stood up for yourself."

I lose my breath for a second as he grabs onto my hands and slips his fingers between mine. I don't even pull away as I say, "I've tried so hard not to let myself be that Jessie anymore."

"Sometimes you just need to let out some steam. It happens."

I watch his eyes for a few seconds as he just smiles down at me. Then I snap out of it, "Oh my God. I'm so late for ceramics."

"Skip it."

I laugh, "It's my favorite part of the day."

He raises his eyebrows, "Better than seeing me?"

"Yep." he gives me a look as I laugh and I scoot around him, "I gotta go." I head down the hall, "And so do you!" I yell behind me before I walk around the corner.

When I get home later on I find Mike and Mona cuddling on the sofa in the family room. It's still weird to process that they are a thing. Apparently Aria found out before he could tell her anything and she was not happy about it.

"Hey." I smile as I walk in.

They both had jumped off each other when they heard the door open, so now they look a little embarrassed. "Hey, Jessie." Mike says, "What's up?"

I shake my head, "Not much. Just tired."

"How are those shiners?" he smiles, pointing to my bruises.

I laugh, "Fine. Nothing I haven't gone through before."

"I heard Hackett pulled you out of class." Mona says slowly, as if she's not sure whether to talk to me or not.

I watch her for a second and half smile, "Yea."

"Did you get into trouble?"

I shake my head, "Nah. We kept our mouths shut, so nothing happened." I start to walk towards the study, "I'll be upstairs if you need me."

I don't even get to the stairs before I feel a hand wrap around my arm. I turn around and see that it's Mona. "Can I talk to you?"

My heart races a little, "Um..."

"Please?"

I take a breath and then nod, "Sure. Come upstairs."

We both climb the steps and she follows me into my room. Both of us sit on my bed, but not sitting next to each other.

"So...what's up?"

She takes a breath, "I wanted to thank you for being okay with this. Me and Mike I mean. I know it's not easy to allow someone who is like your little brother to date a person who hurt you."

"You did a little bit more than hurt me, Mona."

She slowly nods, her eyes saddening a bit. "I know." She looks down at her hands, "But I still appreciate that you aren't giving him a hard time about it. I _have_ changed. I promise."

I nod a few times, not really sure how to answer that. Thankfully I don't have to when a figure pops up at the door. It's Aria, and the look of shock on her face kind of makes my heart sink.

"What's going on here?"

"Nothing. Just talking." Mona says.

"Great, well...get out." Aria tells her.

"Aria, chill out." I tell her as calmly as I can.

"Are you kidding me?"

"I..."

"I'll go. Mike's waiting anyway." She gets up and walks out the door.

I look at Aria, who still is watching me with a pissed look. "Did you have to be so mean about it?"

She nods, giving me a confused look. "Yes. It's _Mona_." she walks to her bed, "Why are you being nice to her?"

I go into my backpack and grab some of my books, "Because she is dating your brother. We need to at least make it seem like we are okay with it."

She shakes her head, "Actually we don't. Mike has no right to force us to like someone who tormented me last school year, while she _kidnapped_ you."

I take a deep breath, "Maybe, but I'm just tired of looking over my shoulder with her. I want to just move past all this. Her dating him may actually change her."

She shakes her head, throwing some books onto her bed from her bag. "Someone like that will never change."

"Can always hope for the best."

She laughs, "Yea, until she tries to kill you again."

It gets really quiet after this. Neither of us even bother to say another word about Mona as we silently do our homework.


	51. Chapter 51

**Alright Liars. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not take credit for Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Owned by Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Time passes and somehow life starts to go crazy. Or is becoming more crazy than usual. Now that _A_ is sucked back into their lives they are on edge again. It turns out that _A_ had warned them before, that's why the note seemed to have been a second warning. Did me or the boys tell them that _A_ had sent signs of still being around before they got any? Not a chance. Don't need them knowing I was still being targeted or snooping around without them. Which is why I didn't give them a lecture on not telling me that _A_ had reached out from when they went to the Busy Bee Inn.

Aria is still not giving the Mike dating Mona thing a chance, so every time he invites her over she makes some type of excuse on why she leaves the room they are in or she goes out. Sometimes dragging me with her and other times on her own. Then it turns into all together her avoiding being in the house and going to the store with me if she doesn't hang with the girls.

On top of that Spencer is acting so weird lately. She looks like she hasn't been sleeping. Her eyes have circles under them, she even looks sick. When I see her at school it worries me and I have no idea what to make of it. Is it _A_ , or is it school.

It's night now when I get a random call from Hanna while at the store for me to close up early and meet her outside. So without question I do. When I walk out there she is standing with her arms crossed, seeming agitated.

"What's up?" I lock the door behind me and walk closer.

"Have you seen Spencer?"

I raise my eyebrow, "No, why?"

"She's going crazy, Jessie. She's acting all weird."

"I've noticed. But it's not anything new. She's always having her crazy moments."

"Not like this. The last time she was acting this weird was when Toby "died" and ended up working with Mona for the _A_ team."

"So what are you saying?" I slant my eyebrows in confusion. "You think that she is having another _A_ moment?"

She shakes her head, "Not that type of _A_ moment."

I slip my hands into my sweatpants pockets, "I don't get it."

She turns towards Ezra's building next door to my store. "She has something against Ezra."

I wait for her to continue, but she doesn't. "Meaning what?"

She takes a breath, "She thinks Ezra is _A_."

My heart sinks, my mouth slowly starts to drop and my eyes widen in shock. There is no way, and I mean NO WAY she just said that. I mean, it's Ezra. The guy who saved my life from the accident. The guy who is always there to protect me like my big brother. He has become one of my closest friends. There is just absolutely no way Spencer found out something to make him a suspect. For him of all people to take over the _A_ game after Mona? No, he wouldn't hurt Aria like that.

I shake my head, "That's crazy."

"It's what she thinks, Jessie. She's been researching him online."

I look behind her as I see a figure walk over to Ezra's building. This person stops in front of the door, as if ringing the bell. "Then let's ask her ourselves." I point over there, "I think that's Spencer now."

Hanna turns around, then back to me. She nods, "Come on."

We ambush her just as she found someone to unlock the door for her. Hanna has a bit of a yelling fit that she is out of her mind to think that he has anything to do with this. Me of course agreeing because I can't wrap my mind around him being apart of something like this. Then Spencer begs us to come inside, just to check.

"If Ezra comes home and finds us here…" Hanna starts.

"He's not." I tell her when we get to his floor. "He went on one of his weekend trips to get his mind cleared for story ideas."

"I figured he wasn't around." Spencer says as she puts her hand up above his door to check it for something, "I've been watching his place all day."

I shake my head, "You really need to stop doing stuff like that."

She turns to me, "Well I think he rented the apartment in Ravenswood. So if we can find something that puts him there we'll have proof."

"And you want that proof to tell Aria."

She nods, "Exactly."

"What are we even looking for?" Hanna asks when Spencer bends down to the mat in front of his door.

"Primarily a key. Move." She tells her, having Hanna lift her feet up.

"Spence."

She looks up at me just as she finds it, "You know I have keys to his house right?" I rattle my keys in my pocket to make a point.

She looks at the spare key in her hand, then back to me. "Why?"

"Because I'm here often and he thought I should?"

"Then why didn't you say something before I started looking?"

"Maybe 'cause you didn't ask?"

She just gives me a bit of a look as she puts the spare into the lock. I'm not sure if she's upset because I got smart with her or because she knows that I was right.

"You're really serious about this aren't you?" Hanna asks her.

Spencer watches her for a second with her _very_ serious _Yes_ face and then opens the door.

"Wait." Hanna grabs onto her before she can walk inside. "Let's just say that you're right. If there's anything tying him to Ravenswood he's not keeping it here."

She watches her for a few seconds, staring at me and then glancing down. I go to turn to where she's looking when she says, "Yea you're right." she closes the door and locks it back up.

Hanna gives me a suspicious yet confused look. "That was easy." she turns back to Spencer.

"I think we are being watched." Spence whispers to us.

"What?" I whisper back, Hanna looking around.

"Don't look." Spencer says, bending down to put the key away. "Look, just follow my lead." she stands back up, inhales deeply as if she is sighing and says, "Yea. I have not been sleeping well lately. All this stuff about Ezra in my head? I don't even know what I was thinking."

I give her a very weird look, but play along. "Yea. Well school has been a bit much."

She shakes her head a few times, "No excuse. I mean, trying to convince you of all people that he's part of something sketchy? That was stupid of me."

She is completely confusing me now, "Um.."

But she doesn't give me much time to say more than that as she walks away and down the hall. Me and Hanna give each other a look and then follow behind her.

"What the hell was that?" Hanna whispers to me.

I shake my head, shrugging, "I don't know. Either she's completely losing it or someone really is watching us." I tell her. "And I honestly don't think it's him."

Spencer's crazy mood doesn't stop after this. She is convinced that Ezra is _A_ , not only because she is sure that he rented that apartment but because of a surveillance camera she says she saw in a vent while we were at his place. She doesn't want Aria to know until we get solid evidence on him, but I still think she's out of her mind.

All I know is that the next day all three of them are on the "Ezra is _A"_ train as they snuck into school to look through his office and I wanted nothing to do with it. I'm not going to help them figure out whether the guy who saved my life is _A_. Because if he is, that won't just destroy Aria, it will crush me too.

Then during the night the three girls planned on telling Aria when she gets back from her weekend with her dad over in New York at Syracuse University. But since I want nothing to do with it I stay home. It turns out though that they never get ahold of her, because I'm watching TV downstairs when she walks through the back door with Ezra.

"Jessie." her face drops a little, "You're home."

I give her a weird look, "I do live here."

She half smiles, "I just thought you'd be out. It's kind of early."

"I needed some chill time." I look at Ezra and smile. All this craziness with the girls thinking he has something to do with _A_ not even in my mind. "You two are back together, aren't you?"

They both look at each other, then turn back to me. A smile comes across both their faces. "Yea."

"About time." I laugh and get up, "Well, I'll be upstairs. Making no noise and pretending I don't exist."

Aria starts laughing, getting my reference from Harry Potter. "That was perfect."

Ezra on the other hand looks a little confused. "I don't get it."

I shake my head a few times, "You need to get the old man into Harry Potter ASAP."

"Hey, I know Harry Potter. I just don't go to the obsession you do."

I laugh, "True."

"And I am not old."

I smile, "Keep tellin yourself that."

" _Goodnight, Jessie_." Aria says in a _It's time to go now_ voice.

I start to walk away, "Yea, yea. I'm goin."

"Love you!" Aria yells behind me.

"Love you too."

"What about me?" Ezra asks in a fake sad tone.

I turn around and smile, "I guess I love you too."

"Yay." he says in a babyish voice.

We all laugh and I head out of the family room.

When they finally do find the time to talk to Aria the following night I don't find out details till Aria gets home. I'm expecting her to be devastated about the news, but instead she tells me that they had a major argument with Spencer. Apparently she found out from Ezra that Spencer has been using drugs, so her, Em and Hanna decided to talk to her about it. That's when Spencer got a little pissed and spilled her thoughts about Ezra being _A_. Aria thinks the drugs are making her paranoid about things, including that. They are all pretty upset with her, but Ria is pissed that she even accused Ezra of something like this.

The next day sometime after school I'm surprised when Spencer shows up at the store. I think she's desperate to get someone to listen to her. Because she rarely ever passes by.

"I need to talk to you." She says in a tired voice as she shuffles her feet through the front door and walks to where I'm sticking prices onto baseball bats.

I watch her for a second, "Hello to you too?"

She takes a deep breath, "This isn't a joke. You need to believe me about Ezra, Jessie. Don't shove what I said aside."

I sigh, getting a little annoyed with her obsession with Ezra as I put the bat I have in my hand down and have her follow me to my office. "Spence..." I sit on the end of my desk. "Why are you taking drugs?"

Her face drops, "They...they _told_ you?"

"Duh."

She shakes her head, "Jessie. Ezra is _A_. It has nothing to do with the drugs."

"Stop saying that."

"I know it's hard to grasp…"

"No, it's insane to even say, Spencer."

She shakes her head, "It's really not. There's so much evidence that points to him, Jessie. I promise it has nothing to do with the drugs. I only took them to focus on this."

I shake my head, "First of all. Using drugs to focus isn't healthy."

"I know, but..."

"And two…" I don't let her finish, "It can't be him. He saved my life. What kind of person would have a heart to save someone and then have the heart to be able to torture and almost kill people?"

"A psychopath?" she asks in confusion. "Jessie, you know better than anyone that someone can switch a personality when unstable. Mona showed you both sides in the flesh. You can't think he may not be the same just because you think you know him. Because Hanna thought she knew Mona well too."

I open my mouth a few times, lost for words. "What do you want me to say about this, Spence?"

"That you believe me. That you can convince Aria that I'm not crazy, that this is happening."

I shrug, shaking my head and trying to take deep breaths. "How can I do that? I don't even know if _I_ can believe it."

"But, Jessie..."

"Spence, you've gone through so many theories of who _A_ can be that I can't even catch up anymore. And the fact that you are accusing someone who is so close to me doesn't make it any better."

"I know. I get it. But you have to keep an open mind incase I am right. Em and Hanna still believe me even if you and Aria don't. We have a plan to find out if he's _A_ or not."

"Great, let me know how that goes when it backfires." I say this a little meaner than I meant to.

She gives me a sad look, "Is there more to this than just being mad that I think he's _A_?"

"You mean being upset with you about abusing drugs isn't enough?"

" _I'm sorry._ "

"Don't be sorry, just stop doing it."

She nods, "Promise."

Aria calls me a few minutes after Spencer leaves, asking me to meet her at home.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Ezra has been watching a friends cabin while he's been away and we've been going up there."

"Okay?"

"Well….okay, I'm kind of believing Spencer's randomness to him being _A_ and I want to see if there's anything over there."

"What? Are you insane?"

"No...there was just something he said today that he shouldn't have even known about. It had to do when Spencer got sent to Radley after she thought she saw Toby dead. Something that only _A_ would know, because I never told him."

"Okay...so why am I coming home?"

"You're coming with me to the cabin."

"What?"

"Please?"

I sigh, getting up from the stool I sit at behind the counter and start to make sure that everything is okay before closing up. "Fine. I'll be there in a bit."

Now, it turns out that Spencer isn't stopping her little drug spree, because I get a call from Andrew telling me that she just asked him for whatever it is he takes. Apparently she's asked before, and it's kind of his fault that she got hooked. He was hiding it from me before because he didn't want me to hate him, but now it's really getting bad. His stuff is proscribed by a doctor to help him focus for medical purposes. Spencer is just doing it because she's addicted now. Really? All this just to figure out if Ezra is _A_? Give me a break.


	52. Chapter 52

**Hello everyone. Got another chapter for you guys.**

 **Enjoy and review.**

 **PLL doesn't belong to me.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform**

* * *

Aria drives us into what seems to be like the middle of nowhere. The nearest town is about an hour away from the cabin they go too. Apparently since they started dating again all they've really done is come here to be alone, to hide it from everyone. She apologizes for keeping it from me, that she just wanted to make sure it lasted. But that if he is actually _A_ she is going to feel so bad and stupid.

"Don't feel stupid if he turns out to be a liar." I tell her, "He is playing a part very well if it turns out to be true, that won't be your fault." I shake my head, "But he's not."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know him as well as you do. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body."

"And what if we are wrong? What if he's someone we think he isn't?"

"Then we'll deal with it. Just like we deal with everything else."

She just slightly smiles at me and then turns back to watching the road. In all honesty I'm praying he has nothing to do with the _A_ mess. Because I don't know if _I_ can deal with it. But for Aria's sake I would have to.

When we get there she parks somewhere away from the cabin where no one will be suspicious if they pass by and see her car. It takes maybe five to ten minutes to walk over as an old fashioned brown cabin comes into view. We both head through the door that leads to a porch. She gets to the main door and goes to an alarm, hesitating.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know the password."

"But if you come up here often, how could you not?"

"It's new. Someone broke in so he updated." she turns to me, "Well...me and the girls actually did, but Em and Hanna broke the window because they hadn't been inside with us when _A_ locked me and Spence inside a closet."

My eyebrows go up, "Wait... _what_?"

"Long story." she turns around to the alarm again, leaving me speechless. Why drop a bomb like that and then play it off like nothing.

It takes her what feels like ever to figure out that the password to his new alarm system is B26. A song that they both like. The same song that they heard in the bar when they first met.

We both head inside, me looking over my shoulder. I feel so uncomfortable with this. I always try to avoid sneaking into people's places when we aren't supposed to be and yet here I am. Why do I let them talk me into sketchy stuff like this?

It's a small cabin, kind of how Ezra's place is set up in Rosewood. The kitchen, living room and bedroom all combined into one area. The difference is that it's a bit more spaced out and the bedroom is actually divided by a little staircase.

"Cozy."

She slightly smiles, "Yep."

We walk around, looking for clues. In a small space like this it's easy to see everything, so just staring from the door would have been good enough to spot something abnormal. Which I'm not sure what exactly I should be looking for, so even walking around I'm stuck.

"Look." I turn to her voice and watch her as she notices something on the floor and moves the rug out of the way. There's a handle.

She lifts it up, seeming to lead to a basement. I walk over as she heads down it, but there's nothing there. When she comes back up she looks like she's just about ready to call it quits when she sees a book on the coffee table by the sofa and gives it a suspicious look.

"Why are you looking at it like that?" I ask from the fireplace. I went into dork mode and hoped that it would really be some type of secret passage. I need to stop watching and reading fictional stuff.

"I've never seen that before."

"Oh?" I say in a bit of confusion, "Meaning?"

She shrugs a bit, but then walks closer. She picks it up and opens it, her eyes widening a bit. "It's a secret hiding place."

"What?" I walk away from the fireplace and stand across the table from her.

She pulls out a stack of papers out of this arms length book about cooking meat. Maybe that's really why it caught her attention, her being a vegetarian and all. Probably thought it was weird that he had it out? I don't even know.

I walk closer and stand beside her. It's printer paper with words printed on it, red pen written all over it in his handwriting. It looks like one of his books and he's proof reading it.

"Maybe we shouldn't be reading this. It's probably one of his novels. You know he likes to figure out ideas."

Does she listen? Of course not. She starts to read the first page, her face dropping. I don't like the look she has. "This…" she sits down on the sofa, continuing to read it. "This is about Ali."

"What?" I sit beside her as she passes it to me.

I skim through it a little, my heart sinking. Why? Because I just realized that this man was _dating_ Alison. That this is telling his life with her. He was what? A freshmen or sophomore in college by the time she went missing, and he somehow knew her before that?

"What the hell does this mean?" I look at her.

Her face is unreadable, gazing towards the fireplace in what is probably shock. "I don't know." When she turns back to me she grabs the papers, reading it outloud.

I'm only half listening as some of the things she is telling me is insane to hear. Apparently he thought he got her pregnant at one point and it scared the hell out of him.

"So, what?" I stare up from my hands as I had been playing with my fingers in an anxiety fit and look at her. "You think he did something to her?"

"CeCe told Em that Ali was terrified to tell the older guy she was dating that she may be pregnant." She looks away from the pages and stares at me, "Why would she tell CeCe that if it wasn't true?"

I shake my head, "I doubt that would be a reason to want to kill her. This is _Ezra_ for crying out loud." I think for a second, "Wait. Why are you believing what CeCe says? She tried to hurt you in Ravenswood."

"I know. But I think she was a distraction to protect Ali from being caught."

I look at her in confusion, "Alison had Spencer _follow_ her to the lair in that town. How was CeCe keeping her from being found if she openly allowed Spencer to do that?"

She shakes her head, staring down at the pages. "The point is that this is making it hard to believe he's innocent, Jessie." she looks at me, "Whether CeCe is in all this or not."

The fact she's believing CeCe, who has been missing since she almost died that night, is ridiculous. But I honestly don't think he is _A_. She thinks that this is a log for keeping track of what he's done as _A_. I disagree. I think he's just a writer who wanted to make money off of a story he was apart of when he was younger.

Then we hear a noise from outside and she gets up, looking out the window. "It's Ezra."

I stand up so fast that I get a headrush. "Are we going to confront him?"

She shakes her head, "No." she walks over to me and grabs the pages off the sofa. "We are leaving."

"But, Aria, it's Ezra. I'm sure he has an explanation for this."

She's not listening to me as she closes the book she got the pages from and then bolts to the window behind us. "Come on!" She whispers loud enough for me to hear.

I look behind me at the door and then run after her. Because it would be awkward standing here by myself when he walks in.

When we get back to her car it is now completely dark out, which freaks me out because I feel like we are in a scary movie. Then just like a typical scary movie, Aria can't find her keys. "Oh no." she says, looking over at me at the passenger side. "I forgot my keys."

"Please tell me you are joking. Because it's not funny."

She shakes her head, "I'm not. I left them in there." she takes a deep breath and looks behind her at the woods, "We are going to have to find another way out of here."

I shake my head, "I'm not going in there. The last time I ran through the woods I thought I found Toby's body and then almost got a concussion from smacking my head into a tree."

"It's either that or getting caught by Ezra."

I take a deep breath, "Can't we just let him explain. Maybe you're over reacting."

"Even if he isn't _A_ , Jessie, he still has creepy things he's writing about her."

I watch her for a second, "Point taken."

"Come on." she starts to run towards the spooky woods that everyone knows in a horror movie will end up getting us killed, but I follow anyway.

I think we run maybe five minutes, she is faster than I expected as she keeps her pace with me the entire time. "This is crazy."

She grabs my hand and I look down at her for a second, "Don't lose me."

I squeeze her hand, a bit out of breath. "No way."

A few seconds later we find a sign that shows there's a ski lodge near by. So we take off in the direction it's showing, but we don't get too far when we hear Ezra's voice.

"Aria!"

We both stop in our tracks for a second, "He...must have...found your keys." I get out in between breaths.

"Aria, I know you're out there." his voice comes again, "Why are you hiding from me?" his voice is calm sounding, the same way he always is.

We both look around and she notices that there's a clear path to our right. So she pulls me to the side and we take off, running till we hear his steps getting closer and hide behind a tree. Some of the branches are low enough that a bit of the leaves hide us from the side.

It's only big enough to hide one person though, so I lean up against it and she presses her back against me. I wrap my arms around her, shaking a bit.

"This isn't right." I whisper to her, "He's not going to do anything."

"How sure are you of that?" her voice shakes as she says it. "We may not know him at all."

She's making me so nervous that my anxiety is reaching to a high level now. My heart is pounding so fast that my chest tightens up, making it hard to breathe.

"Deep breaths, Jessie." She whispers to me, grabbing onto one of my hands. "Relax."

"Aria?" his voice comes again.

I lean my chin on her head, taking deep breaths and trying hard not to give into my anxiety as we hear crashing of footsteps closer to us.

Then it's quiet for a second. So quiet that I swear he can hear my heart thumping a million miles a second. Then all of a sudden her phone rings in her bag, scaring the hell out if me.

She stumbles around for it and puts it on silent just as we hear the sound of running again, but we don't move.

"Aria!" he yells right beside us in a mad tone, making us both jump out of our skin. He thankfully doesn't seem to see us because of the leaves, "Why are you doing this?" he's back to calm again, "Just come out and talk to me."

I feel her arms go up, the moon making her visible enough to see that she puts her hands over her mouth to keep herself from screaming out. I tighten my grip on her, shaking worse than before. My legs feel like jelly, like they are going to completely give out at any second. In my gut I can feel that he isn't going to do anything to us, but at the same time I'm not sure.

We hear as he pleads a little more with her to come out. That he wants to talk to her. He doesn't understand why she's hiding from him. Then a cracking sound of twigs comes from our left and we hear his footsteps leave our side.

We wait about ten seconds, listening to see if he'll come back. When he doesn't I let go of her and she slips away from my body. "I think we need a plan." I whisper to her, "We can't just run around here blind. We have no idea where we are."

She looks in front of us, "There's a ski lift that closes at 8." she points to a sign.

I look at my watch, "We have five minutes."

"If we can make it to there then we'll be in the clear." then her face drops. "You okay? You look like you are going to be sick."

I take a breath, "I'm fine."

"Jessie…"

"Ria, we have no time for this." I start to walk, "Let's go."

We run as fast as we can and manage to make it to the lift area. Aria takes off so fast in front of me to get there though that she doesn't even notice that I'm not all that close to her. That's when I feel a hand grab onto my elbow and pulls me back.

I look up, "Ezra…"

"I need to talk to her." the look in his eyes are a little scary looking as he runs and gets the spot first.

"Aria!" I yell to her, my heart racing as the lift starts to move.

She looks to the side, "Get away from me!" she yells at him, "Jessie!"

"Ezra, I swear to God if you hurt her I'll kill you!"

I watch helplessly as the lift gets farther and farther away, till I can't see them anymore. I don't even know what to do, my mind is racing in panic. Not only because Aria is up there with someone she is afraid of, but because I'm in the middle of the woods by myself in the freaking dark.

I go into my jeans and pull out my phone, I have to let the girls know what's going on. As I dial Emily's number I start to walk the path that I'm hoping will lead closer to the ski lodge so that I can meet them on the other side. I still doubt he's _A_ , but if he is I don't think he will be stupid enough to hurt her knowing that the ski lift goes to a public area. Not to mention that I'd be a witness if something happens to her.

" _Hey, this is Emily, leave a message._ "

"Crap." I hang up and call Hanna, voicemail too. So I try Spencer. It sounds like someone picks up, but it's a weird loud echoing sound of multiple robot like voices. "Spencer?"

"Jessie, can you hear me!" I hear her voice, she sounds scared. "Jessie!"

"Spence, what's going on?"

" _A_ trapped us in a reptile exhibit at the zoo." I just manage to hear.

I put my finger into my other ear to try harder to hear, "You're at the zoo?" Then the sounds of the robotic voices go away and it's quiet, "Spence?"

"I'm here." she's out of breath, "Hold on a minute. It'll be easier to talk when I get to my car." Through that minute I hear her, Em and Hanna talking, then she says, "Our plan didn't work. Ezra…"

"Isn't _A_." I finish for her, whether that was what she was going to say or not.

"What? How do you know that?" Emily's voice comes now, they must have me on speaker.

"If someone trapped you in the zoo then it wasn't him. Me and Aria went to investigate at some cabin they've been hanging out at since they started sneaking around. He showed up _here_. So he wasn't there."

" _What?_ " they all say at the same time.

"So then what's going on?" Spencer asks.

I take a breath, "That's the thing, I don't know."

"What do you mean by that?" Hanna gets in.

I explain everything. How she found a hidden what I think is a novel of his in a secret hiding place. How she got so scared she made us leave the cabin when she noticed he was here to sneak out to her car. That after we noticed she left her keys behind we took off into the woods to keep away from him and find a way to get out of there. But that when we tried he figured out Aria was around and tried finding her, seeming not to know I was here until he saw me when they went up the lift together.

"So now…" I start.

"Ezra, don't!" Aria's voice echoes somewhere above me and my heart sinks.

"What was that?" Hanna asks.

"Aria. The trail is taking me in the right direction, but I can't see her."

They are quiet for awhile, "Where are you?"

I shake my head, "I don't know. Miles away from the cabin probably, but I don't even know where that is."

They stay on the phone with me the entire time I'm walking, scared out of my mind. There's strange noises of what I'm hoping aren't animals ready to kill me as I try to focus on getting to the lodge. The whole walk the girls are on the phone, trying to keep my calm. Eventually I make it there and see that it's closed down now, but no sign of them.

"Aria!" I yell.

"Jessie!" I hear her voice, it sounds far away and high up. "Jessie we are still up here!"

I realize that they didn't make it down from the lift before the place closed. So Spencer tries to calm me down the best she can and talks me through where I could find a power source to get them down. When I do I press the button and down they come. Just as they hit the ground my phone ends up dying...figures.

When they get to me Aria is in tears as she walks faster and hugs me. She is actually calmer than I expected her to be, which means that Ezra isn't who she thought he was. But she found things out about him because she whispers " _He lied. He lied to us._ " in my ear.

Then I shift my eyes and look at Ezra to see the terrified look on his face. He is either looking that way 'cause of whatever happened up there, or because he's scared of me.

I let go of Aria and don't waste time to say something to him. "You are such a dick, Ezra. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Jessie, I can explain."

I get closer and shove him with both my hands, making him go backwards a bit. "Explain what? That you just scared the hell out of us? That you lied about everything that had to do with Alison?"

His face drops, his hands up in surrender. "No, I…"

"I want to go home." Aria tells me before he can finish.

"Ria…"

"Now, Jessie." she holds out her hand to Ezra, wanting her keys back.

He gives her a sad look and hands them to her, then she grabs my hand and pulls me away. She doesn't look back, but I do. The sad look on his face breaks my heart a bit.

Aria tells me everything on the drive home. It turns out that since he knew Alison before she went missing he wanted to make a mystery crime book on her. How she disappeared, what her life was like. He was basically trying to be a detective. He only knew her because she told him she was twenty-one when they met at a bar near Hollis. It seems like his thing to meet underaged girls in bars. I mean, I get why he mistakened a thirteen year old to being older. Alison has always looked mature for her age. But that's pushing it a bit.

Now what makes me a little more pissed than I already was is that he knew who Alison's friends were this whole time. He knew exactly who Aria was when they first met. Since then he's been trying to get clues from all the girls and had investigated them as well. The problem was that he never thought he would fall in love with Aria. So once they became serious he stopped writing it, but started it up again when they broke up.

Then I find out that she lost the pages. She had taken them out of her purse to make a point that she wanted to read them when Ezra told her he'd burn them. But in the process of him trying to grab it from her they fell somewhere down to the ground from where they got stuck.

When we get home we are both surprised to see Mona in our family room, sitting on the sofa.

"Aria...Jessie." she has a mix of seeming upset and yet scared of us. Which is new to me.

Aria gives her a look, her eyes still puffy from crying. But she doesn't say anything as she walks away to go to our room.

"Hey, Mona." I say in a little bit of a sad tone, "It's not a good time."

"Anything I can help with?"

I slightly smile, still trying to get used to the fact that me and Mona can have a normal conversation since she started dating Mike. "Not really. But thanks." Then I follow Aria's lead and leave the room.

She lays on her bed, staring up at her ceiling the entire time. I watch her from my bed for I don't know how long, not even knowing how to bring up what happened. Her life just completely flipped upside down with her boyfriend. Or what I'm assuming is now her ex-boyfriend. He lied to her for two years about knowing Alison, about knowing who she was this whole time. How do you even begin to talk about something like this?

After a few more minutes of silence I get up and walk over to her. She doesn't look at me right away, but when she does there is little to no emotion in her expression. She just looks numb.

"Scoot."

She moves towards her wall and I lay down next to her. We are both quiet as we look up at the ceiling together. She's probably trying to process what she found out while I'm doing that and also trying to figure out what to say. Before I can even decide she sits up and crawls over my legs, grabbing the book on the nightstand that he gave her from when they first started dating. She looks at it for a few seconds and then tosses it across the room in anger.

I get off her bed fast, not hesitating to grab her around the middle. I hug her from behind, telling her to calm down. She starts to cry again as we both sink to the floor and I just rock her back and forth in comfort.


	53. Chapter 53

**Hello everyone. Here's another chapter.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not take credit for Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Last night after I calmed Aria down the girls had come over to talk to her. They were downstairs while I kept my distance and hung out in our room, because I didn't want to hear all that again. So after a few long minutes of thinking I had decided to call Ezra, expecting for him to explain everything better than he explained it to her. For this to be a really early April Fools joke or something, that he made it up. But he didn't answer, so I ended up leaving him a message that I didn't intend to do, but just happened.

" _Wow, Fitz, not answering the phone. How adult of you. I want you to explain why you did this. Because I'm so pissed at you right now for lying. You hurt Aria, she trusted you….I trusted you. I trusted you literally on my life. If you know me as well as you think you do then you'll think twice before trying to talk to me without a good excuse on why you hid this from us. Seeing you and forgiving with open arms may not be in the process of my "healing stage". You may want to rethink coming home for awhile."_

When I hung up from that message I was in tears. I felt bad for Aria since he was her boyfriend, but he was one of my best friends. He was like my big brother. He always tried to protected me even when things with him and the Montgomery's weren't the greatest. He pulled me out of that car, he saved my life.

Aria plans not to go to school today, which is not much of a shock of course. She's been too out of it to even consider letting her leave the house. I offer to stay home with her but she doesn't want me to. So I head to school and end up running into Spencer, giving her an earful about how I'm a little pissed at her for getting Andrew into her drug addiction.

After some apologies from her and being sorry for breaking her promise I head over to my locker. One minute it feels like the whole world is weighing on my shoulders as my mind keeps replaying last night in my head. Then I'm being snapped out of it when I hear, "I thought you were taking the day off." from down the hall.

I turn around and see that Aria is hustling in what seems to be anger towards this way as the girls try to talk to her. Then Spencer grabs onto her arm to stop her, Em and Hanna by their side. I'm about to walk over to them when Aria doesn't listen and goes into Ezra's classroom, except that he's not there. He's absent today. I guess he got my message and took my advice.

After her exploding a bit I decide to ditch school and stay with her. The problem is that after maybe a couple hours of being home, trying to keep her as busy as possible, she kind of has a meltdown and tells me she's going to Ezra's. I can't talk her out of it, so I just go with her instead.

"I think this is a really bad idea." I tell Aria when she forces me inside Ezra's apartment once she gets the door opened, because he doesn't answer. Turns out he's not here.

She closes the door behind me, giving me a look. It's not a mean look, more like a sad one. It's like she doesn't even know how to react anymore. "Don't you want to know if he knew who you were this whole time too? I mean, was it really a coincidence that he saved your life that day?"

I give her a shocked look, "Ria, you need some sleep." I shake my head a few times, trying to grasp what she just asked me as I take a deep breath. "Of course it was a coincidence. How in the hell would he know that a dog was going to run out into the middle of the street and flip the car over?"

Her face drops a bit in embarrassment, "Sorry. But how about after? Do you think he recognized you as my friend since he knew who I was because of Ali?"

I shrug, "Doubt it. Because if he did I'm sure he would have actually stayed in touch with me to ask questions about you and the girls to see what happened to her." I look around the empty room, debating whether to sit down in this assholes place. "So if he did why would he know who I was but not keep contact?" I turn back to her.

She takes a deep breath, "Maybe he was just at the point where he gave up, so he didn't proceed if he knew who you were. But he sure as hell took the leap of an opportunity when he saw me in the pub that day."

I watch her walk over to his dresser in what I can tell is anger, "Ria. I think you should just give yourself more time to process this before going through this detective stuff. It's going to make you crazy and you didn't really sleep last night."

"I'm fine. I just want to get to the bottom of this." she opens each drawer up, going through his clothes. Then she pulls something out.

"What's that?" I walk over to her and look over her shoulder.

It looks like white construction paper wrapped in a rubber band. She takes it off and unrolls the paper. For a second I have no idea what it is, then I realize that it looks like some type of timeline for everyone connected to Alison or the girls.

She throws it onto his bed and then goes into his closet, hauling over a box she finds to his bed too. "Help me."

I hesitate, "Do you think maybe he knows who _A_ is too?" I watch her open the box. "If he's as good of a investigator as it seems he is then maybe he found out."

"If he found out who is torturing me and didn't say anything then he really didn't love me."

This breaks my heart to hear her say that, because he did love her. I could tell that he loved her. Now I feel like I don't know anything anymore as I watch her look through the box. It seems to be files inside it. Each of them with the initials of the girls, Mona, significant others, family members, friends, and...me.

"Give me that?" I ask when she lifts up the folder that has _JB_ on it.

She hands it to me just as she gets to _AM_ for her name, grabbing that too. She looks at her folder for a second, seeming to be debating whether she wants to open it.

While she's doing that I slowly open mine and see that there are pictures of me from the time he started teaching at Rosewood all the way till recently. There's me hanging out with Aria at the Brew, playing basketball at the park and at a game. Skating around town on my board, on crutches when I broke my ankle. There are even a few pictures of me with all the girls, with Andrew, Noel, and...Blake. Seeing a happy picture of me with Blake, his arms wrapped around my waist makes my heart sink. Then I try to calm myself down as I find a piece of lined paper with his handwriting on it and pull it out of the pocket of the folder.

" _Jessie is the loyal friend to anyone who needs one. The person who will be there for you when you're having a bad day. She will stand up to anyone who bothers her or her friends. This girl has come a long way from the girl I remember when I pulled her out of that car the day she lost her entire family. But little did I know that she happened to be best friends with one of the girls I found to be in Alison's little group. Now that I know, I'm wondering if she knows what happened._ "

I skim through it a bit more. Him talking about how he found out that I moved away back in seventh grade and wasn't even living in town the night Alison disappeared. That he doesn't suspect me of anything, but is hoping that I could be some type of help when it comes to the girls. How it seems that I had no idea about _A_ for half of last year, how he wishes I'd trust him because he cares for me, Mona kidnapping me...a lot of stuff.

My blood boils a little. He's had a tab on me this whole time? Then I turn to look at Aria and see that her file is the same. Pictures of her, notes. This guy went full stalker for a book. How insane is that.

"I'm done." I say, slamming the folder onto the bed. "The fact that he did all this and we had no idea it was happening? I can't look through any of it."

She slowly and gently grabs onto my arm, "No. We need to know what he knew."

I watch her for a few seconds, "I don't want to know what he knew. I want to forget that this ever happened. I want to go back to my life when it was simple. Everything is turning to shit."

She takes a deep breath, "Fine. Go. I'll let you know what I find then."

I slowly nod, "I'll be at the store if you need me." Then I walk to the door and leave.

Some hours later my phone beeps in my pocket. I didn't open up the store, but I am doing some rearranging to keep busy.

I take out my phone and see a text from Hanna. " _Open the door_."

I'm a little confused as I put something onto the shelf and then walk to the door. The curtain I added to the glass window is shut, so when I unlock it and swing open the door all four girls are there. Hanna and Em are keeping Aria up on her feet because she looks like she's about to pass out. Her eyes are puffy and her face super pale, like she's getting sick. Then Spencer is standing behind them, still looking exhausted.

"What happened?"

They drag Aria inside as I scoot to the side, "She destroyed Ezra's apartment." Emily says.

"W-What?"

"Why did you leave her there by herself?" Hanna asks me as they sit her on the sofa in my office.

"I didn't want to deal with whatever we might find."

"So you thought that his ex-girlfriend that is barely stable was the right choice to search through his stuff?"

"Don't blame this on me, Hanna."

"You're supposed to be her best friend." her voice is raised a bit, "To tell her what not to do or be there for her."

"What about you? Huh? You're her best friend too!"

"Stop." Aria's low and hoarse voice comes. We all look at her, she is staring down at the floor in a daze. She is shaking a bit. "Stop fighting. This is his fault…. _my_ fault."

"Why would it be your fault?" Emily asks.

"I let him into our lives. If it wasn't for me he wouldn't know all that he does about us, _A_ and Ali."

"Don't say that." I shake my head, "None of this is your fault."

"I should have seen this coming." She's still watching the floor, "I should have known he was up to something."

"Ria." I walk to the sofa and bend down, raising her chin up so her eyes look at mine. "No one saw this coming. You don't deserve to put all the blame on yourself. He fooled us _all_." I wipe away a tear that slides down her face, "He may not be _A_ but he's still an ass. We all put faith in him."

"But I love him." Her eyes sadden and more tears spill out.

I nod, "I know. And I love him as if he was my own brother. But we can't let what he's done get to us."

She starts to cry and I pull her into a hug. This takes so much out of her that we eventually get her to lay down and relax.

The rest of us head into the hall to talk once we calm her down. I tell them that if they have things to do that I'll keep an eye on her. That once she's calm enough to move I'll take her home.

"Okay." Em nods in agreement. "I have to send Ali the envelope of money anyway."

I watch her for a second, "She's still in touch?"

"Not with me, with Shana."

"And you're sure you can trust them. They aren't just trying to pull you into a mess?"

"Jessie, Ali is in trouble. I need to help."

I raise my hands in surrender, "Fine. But I still don't like that she is involving you in something probably bigger than she's leading on. _A_ could be setting her up too and you'll end up in the crossfire."

"I have to say that I agree with her." Spencer says, Hanna nodding in agreement.

"Guys, I have to do this."

We all look at each other, then back to her. "You do what you have to then." I tell her.

"Let us know if you need help." Hanna adds.

"I will." She hugs us all and then leaves. The other two heading out not too long later.

Aria is complete knocked out for the next hour. She is clearly drained out. That's when Noel texts me, asking to hang out. When I tell him that I can't right now 'cause I'm working he surprises me and says to meet him in the alleyway. This honestly makes my anxiety go a bit because I still can't look at alleys the same after Mona. But I suck it up and head out back.

When I open the back door he's leaning up against the opposite wall. "Hey."

I smile, closing the door behind me and walk over to him. I'm really happy that it's still light out, because I wouldn't have been able to leave the building. "What's up."

He shakes his head, one hand in his pocket. "Not much. Just been wondering why I haven't seen you around lately."

I give him a sad look, "Been a bit busy."

"Can we hang out tonight?"

I think for a few seconds and shake my head, "I need to stay with Aria. She's been a bit on edge since last night."

"What's wrong?"

"It's….personal."

He slowly nods, "Fine."

My eyebrows go up, "What's with the attitude?"

He shrugs, "Oh nothing. I just feel like you've been avoiding me. That's all."

"I'm not avoiding you."

He watches me for a few seconds. His blue eyes look really sad, which makes me feel bad. "Okay." He straightens up, "Then I'll see you at school."

He goes to turn and I grab his arm, "Don't be upset with me."

"I'm not."

"Yes you are. I can tell."

He gets quiet. Not even bothering to look at me.

I watch him, this urge to kiss him coursing through me. But Blake's face, the way he forced himself onto me keeps flashing into my brain every time I think of making some type of move.

"I'm sorry that we can't be more."

He slants his eyebrows in confusion as he looks down, "I think we can."

I shake my head, "I'm not ready. I don't know how to do relationship type things without thinking about what happened."

"Hey." He pushes my chin up, "It's okay." he wraps his arms around me for a hug, calming me down.

His cologne goes up my nose. He smells amazing. "You deserve someone who won't react badly when you touch her in a girlfriend way. I don't know if I can do that."

"No." He pulls away and looks down at me, "I'll wait if I have to. I'm not rushing you."

I watch him for a few seconds. How is this guy so misunderstood?

Hanna passes by a half hour later to see how Aria is doing. She finally woke up and had been staring into space the entire time on the sofa. I tried to have her help me around the store but she didn't want to move. Finally I told Hanna to take her home, that she needed to be anywhere but somewhere close by to Ezra's place. She agrees and takes Aria back to our house.

When I walk outside when I'm ready to head home later on I find Hanna sitting in her car out front, seeming to be dazed out.

I walk over to it as she unlocks the door and I hop in the front. "Hey."

She slightly smiles, "Hey."

"You okay?"

She shakes her head, "Aria had a meltdown. She almost exposed her and Ezra's relationship to Hackett tonight."

"What?"

"She's hurting more than I've ever seen her, Jessie. She doesn't want anyones help, she doesn't want to talk. I don't know what to do."

"I'll take care of it."

She shakes her head, "I don't think even you'll be able to get through to her this time. She was betrayed big time. There's nothing else on her mind besides that."

"I got it."

She takes a deep breath and nods, "Okay."

Turns out that my efforts wouldn't come in handy. Because as soon as I get up the steps when Hanna drops me off the door flies open and Aria runs into me. "Whoa. Going somewhere?"

Her eyes look puffy, "Yea." she doesn't make eye contact with me as she says that, closing the door behind her. She looks like she is high off something from how tired she looks.

"Where?"

"I don't know."

"What…"

"I don't know, Jessie. Is that okay with you." she says this in a angry tone.

I slant my eyebrows in confusion. "Why are you talking to me like I did something wrong."

"I'm just tired of everyone trying to make sense of the situation and treating me like I need to be handled carefully."

"Aria, you just found out that your boyfriend knew a lot more about everything than you thought. We are worried about you."

She nods in a way that I know isn't good, because she has the same look she always gets when she's ready to explode. "Well maybe I don't need your sympathy. Maybe I just need you to leave me alone."

"Aria…"

"I'm leaving, and don't you dare follow me." she bumps me a little when she walks past me and heads to her car.

"Aria!"

She doesn't even look at me as she gets in and takes off. That's when the door opens from behind me and footsteps come right next to me.

I turn and look up, "Em?"

"She's lost, Jessie. She is completely lost."


	54. Chapter 54

**Hey there Liars. Hope all is well as I present to you another chapter!**

 **Please review and enjoy.**

 **I do not own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

The fact that Aria picked up and left made me speechless. I've never seen her like this before. In a sad state of mind sure, but to the point where she completely goes off on me? Never witnessed that in my life, and I sure as hell do not appreciate it.

Trying to explain this to Mike when he walks into my room in the middle of me and Em talking is a task in itself when he asks.

"She uh, went out." I say in a way that I know was not believable.

He raises his eyebrows at me, "Where?"

I shrug, "Not sure."

"Your best friend didn't tell you where she was headed?"

"Just because we are best friends doesn't mean we tell each other every little thing."

He watches me for a few seconds, as if trying to figure out what to say. "Is she okay?"

I slightly smile, "Yea, of course."

He gives me a look, "I heard her yelling. And she's seemed a bit weird all day."

I shrug, "She's just going through something that she won't talk about."

He watches me for a second, I can feel tears about ready to spill out from being overwhelmed but I try to hold it together. "Is there something going on that I should know about?"

I try to keep a smile, "Nothing to worry about."

"I'm always worried."

"Everything is okay, promise."

He slowly nods, "Okay." Then he backs out of the room and heads to his.

I watch the door from my bed for awhile. He has every right to know that she left because of Ezra, but it's not easy to blurt that out when one, it's not my place to tell him, and two, he'd rip his head off.

Then I feel a hand go onto my leg. I shift my eyes away and see the sad look on Em's face. "Wanna talk about it?"

I rub one of my eyes to cover up that I want to cry. "Talk about what?"

"Ezra. I can tell it's getting to you."

I shrug, "I'm fine."

She shakes her head, getting a little close to me. "No you're not. He is just as important to you as he is to Aria. Don't hold back your feelings because you're trying to be strong."

I take a deep breath, not being able to hold back the tears anymore as they slowly slide down my face. "How could he lie all this time, Em?" I look down at my hands, "It took a lot to trust him. When I finally found the courage and got close to him he ruins it."

"I know. I'm sure that wasn't his intentions."

"Then what was?" I look up at her, "Because he may not have known who I was when he saved me, but he did think that I'd be a good lead when he figured out I was friends with Aria. That's not a friend."

She wipes a tear that slides down my face, "It's okay to be upset."

"I'm more than upset, Em. I'm _pissed_. Pissed at him for using me, and pissed at Aria for running out like that. Does she not realize that I'm hurting too?"

Her face looks like she would cry if she could from how I'm acting. But she holds herself together and pulls me into a hug, allowing me to completely lose it.

It's three days later and Aria never came home. I had been freaked all night when she left, not known what happened. But the morning after I had found out good news that she didn't end up in a ditch somewhere. She went over to Syracuse to stay with her dad. He thought she went for student week to check out the campus as an option for college next year. Little did he know that she just wanted out of Rosewood for other reasons.

Has she contacted me since? Nope. I only found out because he called me wondering why I didn't come with her.

During one of the nights without her or Uncle Byron around Mike invited over Mona. Shockingly I was cool to play nice and watch a movie with them. Mike had even surprised me by inviting over Noel. I had snuck it in there that I may like him and he was the only one I could trust with that secret since he understood what it meant to like someone people were iffy with.

But I have to admit that it wasn't too bad or awkward. It actually felt pretty normal being around Noel, even around Mona. Which is huge step for me.

It has felt weird though without Aria around. But at the same time it allowed me to feel what I was feeling without worrying about her. In a way I felt bad about not caring she wasn't home, because I was still worried. But then I realized that I was actually able to have my feelings surface, which doesn't happen often because I'm always too absorbed in the girls problems.

"Have you heard from Aria?" I ask Em and Hanna as we head to Hanna's locker.

"She called this morning." Em says. "What about you?"

I shake my head, "Not even a text."

"Is she still mad at me?" Hanna asks.

"She's not mad, she's hurting." Em tells her. Then gets quiet for a second, "She sounded okay...distant."

"That's not a good sign with her." I say, "She gets distant that means she's not doing well."

They both give me a sad look, then Em changes the subject and looks at Hanna. "Are we still going to Spencer's later?"

"Spence is back?" I ask.

Spencer had been forced into a three day rehab for her drug addiction by her parents. It seems like she couldn't stop after all. It also seems that I'm a little out of the loop with my friends lately since Aria isn't talking to me and I didn't know Spencer was even home.

They both nod, "It's so weird." Hanna says, opening her locker. "I called her cell and her mom answered. She's not allowed visitors and isn't going to be in school for awhile."

"Probably for the best." Emily tells her. She gets quiet for a second, "I saw Fitz's car in the teachers parking lot.

Hanna gives her a weird look and my heart sinks. He didn't just not come to work for that one day, he's been gone for three and I never had the courage to confront him. "Wait, he's back?" Hanna asks.

She says a few more things as I tune her out when I notice that Ezra's standing right beside the doorway of his classroom, as if he was right on cue for this convo. Then a commotion of an argument echoes beside us on the other side and realize it's Mike and Mona. When Mike walks away and she turns towards us, we see that she is actually looking behind us with a mean look. I know who she is looking at right away. Fitz.

The girls start to talk again, thinking that he is still pulling the strings for Mona. It would make sense that she may have been helping him out with the whole book thing. That's probably how he's been getting some of his info for it.

His eyes shift away from her and looks at me when he realizes I'm watching him, his face paling a bit and then walks into his room. I can't hold my impulse of walking to him in anger, but I don't get far when two hands grab onto me.

"Stop." Hanna says, "This is not the place to confront him."

They both have an hand to each arm, holding me back. "I don't care."

"Jessie." Em says carefully, "I get that him doing this hurt you just as much as it hurt Aria. You looked up to him as more than just the guy dating your best friend. You owe him for saving your life. For protecting you like you were his sister rather than a friend. But you can't just walk up to a teacher and have a full out argument with him about something this private. Especially when _A_ is involved."

I look at her, "Don't you see that he used Mona to date Mike to _spy_ on Aria. Maybe even me?" I don't know why I thought of that, but it makes sense now.

Emily's eyes flame a bit, "Now I'm mad." She lets go of me. "We should say something."

"Em." Hanna says, "You just gave a valid point to Jessie. Don't explode in front of everyone."

She shifts her eyes from Hanna to me, "If you come I'm doing all the talking."

I watch her for a few seconds, then shake my head. "No. If I go in there I won't be able to keep my mouth shut. And what I have to say isn't going to be nice. I rather not risk having the whole school hear it."

She half smiles and nods, "Hanna?"

She shakes her head, "No. If you were going to slash his tires or bust his headlights I'd be so down. But I don't even want to be in the same room as him."

Em nods, "No, I get it."

"I'm going to ditch." Hanna tells her, "You going to be okay?"

"Yea, I'll be fine." she half smiles and then walks away.

I watch her walk the classroom, then I watch Hanna walk down the hallway. I don't think twice as I chase after Hanna. "Hey." She turns to me, "Can I come?"

She raises her eyebrows, "Seriously? The one who never ditches class wants to?"

I half smile, "Hey, I ditched school for the first time the other day. I guess I got the feel now."

She laughs, "Okay. Then let's go."

We take a walk for a little bit, just talking. I feel like me and her don't do much of that. Every time we hang out it's for an _A_ situation or when we are in need. Like when her mom went to jail for example. We don't get many chill time with each other outside of the chaos and I have to admit that this felt pretty good, simple. But you know, all nice things must come to an end.

When we walk into the Brew she sees Detective Holbrook sitting by himself at one of the tables. She grabs her coffee and goes over to talk to him. Those two have become kind of close.

Once I grab my coffee I stand by the door to wait for her. That's when he looks above her head and notices me, waving me over. My heat sinks but I don't bother to try and hide myself as I walk to them.

"Hello, Jessie."

I slightly smile, "Detective."

"Please, call me Gabe. I'm not on duty."

"Oh. Uh...okay."

He smiles, "I was just having a chat with Hanna here about this note one of my fellow officers found in their car." he hands me an envelope. "Anything you need to tell me?"

I grab it from him and look at it. The front of the envelope says, _Attention: Officer Holbrook_. When I open it it reads, _I know for a fact Alison DiLaurentis is alive. Start looking for her. A. D. Incorporated, PO Box 537 Wallingford, PA_.

My heart sinks, but I look up from it and to him. "Is this some type of joke?" I'm trying to have the same poker face that Hanna has on.

"You tell me." he looks at both of us, "Is it?"

"Alison is dead." I tell him, "Has been for the last four years."

He nods, "I know. We get these all the time. Wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask." He grabs the note back from me, "Sorry to bother you girls."

I slightly smile as Hanna gets to her feet. When we leave we are both stumped on who could have possibly done that.

" _A_?" I asks.

She shake her head, "That doesn't make sense. I mean, why would _A_ risk telling the police that she's alive when this person wants her for themself?"

"Maybe they got really desperate for someone more professional to find her so that she'll finally be in the open."

Later on I don't waste time to head over to Ezra's, finally ready to give him a piece of my mind. But I realize that I can't face him when I get to the door of his apartment. I watch it for what feels like ever, trying to get myself to knock on the door as I hear the TV is on inside. The thought of having to look at this guy and hear how he manipulated the girls in a way that he got answers without them knowing is too much to grasp. The thought of looking at him and knowing that I jumped into a trust for him not only because Aria asked me to since they were dating, but because I was holding onto the fact that I'm alive because of him made me feel all the more stupid to trust him.

After a rush of heat from anger goes through me I decide not to bother. So I turn around and leave to go home, because I can't deal with this right now.

On the ride home from his place I bump into Mona. I just turned the corner and she almost ran me over with her car. Luckily I was able to dodge her before she hit me though.

"Oh my God, Jessie, I'm sorry."

I shake my head and walk to her side of the car. "It's cool. It's dark and I shouldn't have been speeding the corner like that."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, "Need a ride?"

I watch her for a second and then nod, "Yea. I'm going home."

She slightly smiles, "Did Mike tell you we broke up?"

I slowly nod, "Yea. Sorry to hear that." Surprisingly I'm actually telling the truth.

When she pulls up to my house I ask her if she wants to come inside. As much as she messed up last year with being _A_ and hurting me I think she deserves to try and get him back.

At first she says no, saying that it's too soon since it just happened. But then she agrees.

Before we walk inside she grabs onto my arm, smoothing down her hair. "How do I look?"

At first I smile, then it fades. My heart starts to thump hard against my chest as a memory pops up. The night she took me, the part where she switched into her masquerade dress as I was weakly tied to the chair with no way out.

" _What do you think_?" she had asked about the dress with a Tada look and gesture on her face.

All the fear rushes back to me as her image in front of me switches from this Mona to black hoodie Mona. Then just as fast scary Mona is gone and normal Mona is back.

Her face is concerned as she watches me. "You okay?"

I put a smile on, breathing in and out through my nose deeply. "I'm good. You look fine. Come on."

I'll tell you now that it doesn't end up working out.


	55. Chapter 55

**Here you go guys, another chapter.**

 **Please let me know what you think in a review.**

 **I do not own anything Pretty Little Liars related. Everything belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

I jerk awake from a nightmare of Ezra turning into a creepy monster with fangs and sharp claws as he chased me in the woods the following night, my ceiling coming into a blurry mess. As I'm catching my breath from another insanely crazy dream I realize that the brightness of the lamp light in the room is still on instead of the dimmed out nightlight. I don't remember leaving it on so I turn around to check and see Aria is sitting on the edge of her bed, looking at me.

She scares me so bad that when I jump the whole bed moves and squeaks, "Ria."

She half smiles, "Sorry, Jessie."

I rub one of my eyes, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Thinking."

I take a deep breath and sit up, watching her for a few seconds. "You didn't talk to me for like four days."

Her eyes sadden a bit, "I know."

"You know?" I say this calmly, but now my anger is starting to seep in, "That's all you have to say after rushing out of here the other day? You gave me the cold shoulder, basically told me to go screw myself, and all you have to say is you know?"

She takes a deep breath, "I needed space. I needed time to process."

I bite down hard, making my jaw tighten up in anger. I'm really trying not to yell at her, "And you think I didn't? You think that you're the only one going through a hard time after finding out he has been lying this long?"

She shakes her head, "I know, Jessie. I _know_." she looks like she's ready to cry now, "I just couldn't handle being here. I know it wasn't right to shove you aside and make it seem like I was blaming you, and for not calling you. But I needed time to myself, and I thought you would be too mad at _me_ for taking off."

I watch her for a few seconds, because she isn't wrong about me being mad at her. Then I lay back down and roll over to look at the wall. "Well now you're back. So I guess you figured out what you needed to do."

It's quiet at first as neither of talk. I think she got that I am upset with her. Then I hear her get off her bed and mine goes down as she puts her hand on my shoulder. "I told him he needed to leave town. That I can't have him around anymore."

I slowly turn around in surprise, "You did?"

She nods, "I shouldn't be the one running away from here to avoid him. He made the mistake, he needs to leave." she looks away for a second, "And he gave me another copy to his book."

I sit up, "Wait...so you saw him and he gave you his book in return? That's a little weird, Ria."

"He apparently decided not to publish it, but feels that what he found in it is worth reading." she looks over at her bed, the stack of pages to his book on are on it. Then she turns back to me, "And it was. He thinks _A_ is Ali's mom."

My eyebrows go up in surprise, "What?" I shake my head, "That doesn't make sense."

She shrugs, "It's what he thinks, I don't know why but it's his theory." she hesitates for a second, "I saw the girls once I found this out. Spencer thinks he may be right."

I half laugh, "That makes as much sense as her saying she's all better."

She gives me a look, "Jessie."

I shake my head, "Sorry, but you don't go three days to rehab and then come back cured after popping pills that she took more than once a day for who knows how long. She was going _insane_."

She takes a breath, seeming that she rather not argue. "Well the relapse and her trying to get cured is now allowing her to remember things she suppressed. And it happens to be that she remembers arguing with Ali the night she went missing. She thinks she hurt her, which would make sense why Mrs. D would be A."

I'm so tired that I can't even wrap my mind around everything she is telling me. I mean, it's like two in the morning. It only makes sense why I'm having a hard time keeping up. So we decide to call it a night and head to bed.

When I wake up again it's light out. I get up, use the bathroom, get dressed and rush downstairs. I realized that I left one of my essays at the store and I need to go there before heading to school. But I'm taken by surprise when I jump the last step and notice that Aunt Ella is having coffee with Uncle Byron in the kitchen.

My mouth drops, "Aunt Ella?"

A bright smile comes on her face as she gets up and walks over, hugging me. "Hey, babygirl."

"You're here." I squeeze my hands tighter around her back, trying to make sure that she is really back from Europe and not in my head.

"Yes, I am." she pulls away. "Aria doesn't know yet though, I'm about to sneak up on her."

I shake my head, a smile on my face. "I can't believe you're here."

"I missed you guys. Thought I'd surprise you."

"Well I'm for sure surprised." I can't help but continue to smile at her, "Where's Zack?"

"He had work stuff to do so he stayed behind." She smiles, "Where are you rushing to a half hour before school starts?"

"The store. I left something I need for school there."

She smoothes my bangs behind my ear, "Well, have a good day. I'll see you later." She gets by me and climbs the steps.

Uncle Byron smiles at me as he walks over. "Here, eat something." he hands me a banana.

I smile, "Thanks." I start to open the banana, "You knew she was coming, didn't you?"

He smiles a bit, "Maybe."

I laugh, "Jeez, you can keep a secret."

He laughs, "By the way." he starts, "Jessica wanted to know if you'd like to be part of the charity show."

I slightly smile. Mrs. DiLaurentis is hosting some charity event at her house tomorrow night. Something that has to do with wedding gowns. "Me wear a wedding dress and walk down a runway?"

He laughs, "Yea, I thought you'd say that."

I smile, "I wasn't even planning on going anyway. I have plans with some of the girls from basketball."

He nods, his smile fading a little. Ever since I got kicked off he's been a little bummed out about it. He loved watching me on the court. I had to tell him that it happened from lack of focus because school was kicking my ass and that I was still trying to process Mona being back at the time. He still doesn't seem like he's gotten over it but he tries not to show that.

"Well it was worth a shot to ask." he smiles, "Thought you'd look beautiful in one."

I start to blush, "Well when I really get married you'll be the one walking me down the aisle. You'll get the best part of seeing me in a wedding dress."

His smile brightens, then saddens just as fast. "Never thought that would be my job."

I half smile, getting what he means by that. "I'm sure dad wouldn't mind."

Later on at school I have to run out the front doors to call Bobby before next period. He had called me during class and I couldn't pick up. He's been trying to reach me for days but with school, work and Ezra I completely forgot to get back to him.

"Hello?" he answers.

"Bobby, hey. I'm so sorry I haven't called you back. School has been crazy."

"No problem." he yawns.

"Mierda." I curse in Spanish. "Did I wake you up?"

"No, no." he yawns again, "I dozed off, you saved me from being late for class."

"Oh, then I'm not sorry."

He laughs, "Anyway, I've been trying to get ahold of you because mom is having family over our house for Thanksgiving and wants you to join us this year."

I get quiet for a second, "Your mom invited _both_ families?"

"Oh, noooo." he laughs, "No, that would be a disaster."

I take a deep breath. Both sides of my family are kind of judgmental with each other. Our parents always tried to include everyone for family events, but some of the adults don't get along with each other. At mine and Aria's tenth birthday party Uncle Tyler got into a fist fight with my second cousin Jimmy from my mom's side. Jimmy thought that my uncle was flirting with his girlfriend and that pretty much ended our birthday. So since then no one really tries to get the two families together unless they have to, like for the funeral. It was a miracle that no one got hurt.

"Good, because right there I was gonna pass."

"Yea, I know. I wouldn't have even bothered to ask if that was the case."

"Well in that case, yes. I'll come to your mom's for Thanksgiving."

"Sweet. Then we can ride down together."

"Sam coming?"

"No, she's gonna be with her family. She's heading home once break kicks in."

I look down the stairs of the front building and see Emily sitting by herself at one of the tables. "Hey, I gotta go."

"Yea, me too."

"Talk soon."

"Te amo."

I smile to myself, "I love you too."

I hang up and go to head down the steps to talk to Em, but then Jason DiLaurentis passes by me and walks down the stairs first. This gets her attention as she gets up from the table and talks to him.

He looks different from the last time I saw him. I mean, facially he looks the same, but physically he looks healthier. He doesn't seem like he's as exhausted as he used to be. I guess that's what happens when you almost get killed from an elevator. He even cut his Bieberish hair to a shorter look, a lighter tone to his hair color as it is now a mix of blond and light brown. He looks cute. How this nice guy is related to the devil amazes me.

When they are done talking he takes off to his car, leaving her by herself. I rush down the steps and tap her arm. She turns around and I ask her what that was all about.

"He's avoiding Spencer."

I raise an eyebrow, "Why? And what, he decided to come out of hiding all of a sudden? It's been weeks since he's been in Rosewood."

"I know. But he said something about trying to space his mom away from Spencer because it's not the first time she felt that Spence has had it out for their family." While Spencer was still on drugs she went crazy on Mrs. D. "She really thinks that Spencer has always had something against Ali. Maybe she is _A_."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, "What? How did you get that from a five minute conversation."

She shrugs, "It's just a guess based off of what he told me."

"And what exactly did he tell you?"

The bell rings, "Later. We have to go."

During ceramics I'm in a pretty deep thought process as I work on my artwork. Every other day Andrew switches seats between sitting with me or his other friends. The only other person to be at the table besides me whenever Andrew isn't around is a new girl who transferred last week from England named Annabeth. Yes, the fact that I met a person with the same name as a Greek demigod from Percy Jackson was definitely my highlight of that day.

We are both so shy around each other though, so we haven't really talked since that day. The most we got out was saying hi, introduced ourselves and I have a major dork moment when I mentioned her similar name to a book I liked. Other than that we haven't said anything, just a nice smile of hellos every time we sit.

But that changes when I hear, "Wow."

My hand freezes in midair with the tool I'm using to carve into the clay. Then I slowly turn my head to look at her. The fact she said something surprises me, I don't think she's said a word in this class besides hi since she got here.

She has a smile on her face. "That's impressive." she points to the drawing beside me of what my piece is going to look like when I'm done with it. Her british accent is pretty strong though, so I'm struggling a little to understand what she said.

I smile a bit, "Thanks." I lean back a to stretch my back, then go back to the position I was in again. Sitting in stools is so uncomfortable.

I don't know how good my work is going to look made out of clay compared to being drawn on paper, but I decided to embrace my past. I made a bit of collage of certain things in my life. A car with broken glass and destroyed areas being the bottom part of my art to indicate the car accident. From there it's going to go up and show two random people standing on the car that I made up with two personalities. One's a boy that will represent Blake, and a girl representing Mona. Both having one side being the good side of them with normal features, while the other will be evil with darker colors and meaner faces.

"Is there something behind your thought?"

I slowly nod, "Inspiration from some personal events I've gone through."

She smiles, "Always the best way to work." She brings the drawing closer to her to examine it better. "The detail is amazing. So simple, yet such a strong story behind it." she hovers her hand a bit over the paper and makes it seem like she is tracing it with her fingers without actually touching it, "A car accident and two people with split personalities makes me think that you've been through a lot."

My heart sinks a little, making me turn back to her in surprise. If she understands what my drawing is about then that means she is an actual artist. Whoever isn't passionate about art won't understand the meaning of them.

She turns to me and sees my shocked face. Her's goes a little slack, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to overstep."

I shake my head, "No. I was just impressed that you got it. Not many people understand background to art."

She smiles, "My mum and dad are in the art industry. I grew up with it."

The bell rings, making me jump a bit. Then I compose myself, "Next class I get to see what you are working on." I get up and start to clean my side of the table.

She smiles, giving me back my drawing and grabs her lump of clay that she hadn't really done anything to in the last forty-five minutes. "You got it."


	56. Chapter 56

**Hey everyone. This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, sorry about that.**

 **Hope you enjoy and review.**

 **I do not own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

The following day Aria lets me know that her and the girls decided to go to the charity event after all. Hanna's mom is helping Alison's mom with it because she's been working for her for awhile. It was the only job she could get after the whole going to jail fiasco. So when she told Hanna that she found bags of new clothes that Mrs. D bought recently in Alison's size and like things Alison would wear, they got suspicious and did their usual of wanting to snoop around.

Since I'm not going I head to the park to get in some basketball with Carter, Liz and Tori. Not only do I not want to see a runway show, but with my luck they'll suck me into another _A_ mess. So rather than that happening, I choose having a normal life. Or at least as normal as it can get before everything implodes again.

"Ball!" I yell with my hand raised just as I tricked Carter with a fake out of going one way but running the opposite instead to head to the hoop.

Liz notices that I'm free under the hoop and bounce passes to me, Carter just missing it when she swipes to grab it away from me. Instead it slips under her fingers and goes straight to me, making it simple to get a two pointer.

"That's game!" Liz yells, high fiving me when she gets to closer. "Nice shot."

"Thanks." I take a deep breath to catch it, "Good pass."

"Still can't believe coach kicked you off." Tori says as we walk over to the bench to rest, "The team is struggling more than ever without your three pointers."

I shrug as I sit down, "It happens."

It gets quiet for a bit as we drink some water, "So you don't want to go to that event your friends are helping out with at the DiLaurentis house?" Liz asks.

I take a gulp of my water, "Nah. It's just a runway show. Not like I haven't seen them do that before."

"Yea, but there's a difference between seeing them creepily in Alison DiLaurentis's old clothing in that weird runway show last year and seeing them in wedding dresses." Carter tells me. "Seems more subtle than last time."

I shrug, only if she really knew why they were in it. "Doesn't matter. They have plenty of support."

"If you say so." Tori says, then gets up. "One more round to fifteen and then call it a day?"

We all look at each other and then nod. "Bring it on." Liz says, getting up.

"Me and Liz got you guys beat anyway." I add.

Later on while everyone is at the runway show I'm hanging at Noel's house, playing video games in his room. I was supposed to stick around with Carter and Liz for the rest of the night, but something came up for them a bit into our hang out time. So when I let him know I was now free from when he asked earlier he didn't hesitate to ask me to pass by.

I beat him in the baseball game we are playing on his Playstation twice so far. He swears he's the best at it and yet I destroyed him in it. But if he let me win I may really kick his ass. Then his phone rings just as we finish the current game we were into, his face getting a little pale and serious all of a sudden when he takes it out of his pocket.

"You okay?"

He half smiles, "I have to take this. It's kind of important, and you may hate me for it."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion as he answers his phone, not giving me time to even ask what he meant. So I try not to pay attention to his convo as I play the game on my own. But once I hear his voice sounding a little scared I check back into it.

"So you want me to take them to New York to meet you?" he asks, then pauses. "But, Alison..."

My heart sinks, making me drop the game remote onto my lap in shock. He looks at me when I turn to him, but continues his conversation as he gives me a worried look. This is what he meant by me hating him.

When he gets off the phone he gets up. "I need to go."

"You're working with Alison?"

He bends down to grab his sneakers, nodding. "Yes."

"You've known she was alive this whole time?"

"Yes. And I know you have too."

My face heats up in embarrassment, "I uh…"

"I know that you do, Jessie. She wanted me to know that I wasn't the only outside source that knew."

I watch him for a second, "I'm not exactly helping her out though."

He nods, "I know." he takes a deep breath and sits back beside me. "But I am. I have to do her a favor."

"Taking the girls to New York." I say, realizing what he meant now. "Because she's there."

He nods, "Yea." He stops for a second, "Come with me?"

My heart sinks, "W-What?"

"Come to New York with me."

"But...Alison."

"I'm just meant to drop them off and then go somewhere till I have to bring them home."

"Okay?"

"Keep me company? We can escape Rosewood for awhile. You won't see her."

I watch him for a few seconds, his blue eyes are twinkling. The same look he gives whenever he lays eyes on me. It makes my heart melt everytime. "I don't know…"

He lifts up his hand and gently grabs my chin, "Say yes."

"Noel…"

He slowly leans in this time and kisses me softly on the lips. When he pulls away he puts his hand to my bangs and smoothes them behind my ear. "Please?"

I bite my bottom lip, loving the way he kissed me. "Oh, alright." I smile and nod. "Because you asked nicely."

He smiles, "Come on." He gets up and holds out his hand. "Let's get your friends."

I let the Montgomery's know that I'm heading over to the city with Noel for the night. That it was a last minute invite for a movie that his friend bailed on and something I wanted to watch. Then from there may end up going to a friends house. I so hate lying to people, so I only gave them a half lie. I am clearly going to be with Noel, but hopefully they don't find out which city I actually went to, because I didn't make it specific so they'll assume I meant Philly.

Now it turns out that the girls had went to Philly after the wedding runway show. They somehow got in contact with Alison and she told them that she was in Philly instead of in New York. So I can imagine how surprised they were when Noel walked inside the building they ended up in to tell them that he's taking them somewhere else instead.

The look they give me when they see me sitting in the car when they walk outside makes me feel weird. Me being here definitely takes them off guard. They have this face like they don't know whether they aren't sure if I'm really in the front seat of Noel's car.

"I thought you went out with Liz and Carter." Aria says when she hops in the back with the other three as they squeeze together.

"I did." Noel gets in the driver's seat now, "Then I went to hang at Noel's."

They all give each other a look, then a suspicious one to me. They still think Noel is up to something, an _A_ type of something. I guess they don't believe that he is taking them to Alison. So while we are driving they are group texting me their suspicions of him. I just say that he knew that I knew about Alison because she told him, and since I was with him at the time he told me to come. Now they think that he may be trying to pull me into a trap.

I turn around to look at them four squeezed in the back of Noel's car. "We _are_ taking you to Alison." I tell them after not saying exactly where we are going when they ask for the fourth time. "Just trust us. I'm actually doing you a favor I never thought I'd do."

"It's not you we don't trust, Jessie." Spencer says.

"It's him." Hanna finishes, staring at Noel.

I take a deep breath, "I _promise_ he is trying to help."

They all just side look at each other, seeming to not know what to say. That's when they slip into silence and makes it so quiet during the ride that Noel turns on the radio. The girls are clearly upset with me for not believing that he may be bad news. So to keep myself busy I stare out the window, eventually falling asleep.

I'm waken up sometime later to a shake to my shoulder. My eyes slowly open and a second of blurriness comes through the darkness of the night outside. It quickly goes away when I blink a few times and look to the side to see Noel smiling at me in the driver's seat.

"Hey there, sunshine."

I sit up, rubbing my eyes. "Hey." I get out a bit hoarse.

"I just left them in the apartment to meet with Alison."

I look out the window and see that we are in front of an apartment building complex with a lounge below it. The girls aren't in the car. "So we just have to wait now?"

He nods, "Till Alison calls me."

"Great." I say sarcastically.

Noel had taken away their phones while in Philly. So the girls can't call if needed. He took out all of their batteries from the phones and stuffed them all into a bag so the cops can't trace it. I can't even get in contact if I wanted to.

"I know you're not her biggest fan, but I made a promise."

"I just don't get why you agreed after all the horrible things she's done."

He nods, the wheels in his head seeming to be turning. It's like he's trying to figure out an answer. "I know. She just seemed so desperate for help. I couldn't say no."

I smile a bit, "You're such a big softy."

He laughs, "Okay." he turns on his car, "I'm not sure how long we are going to be here for, so lets make the best of it." He looks at me, "You hungry?"

I nod, "Starving."

He ends up taking me to a diner near the building that the girls are at, which happens to have a motel right next door. Even if the girls finish whatever it is they are doing tonight it's not like we are gonna head back to Rosewood from Manhattan so late at night. So after we have a nice sit down dinner Noel decides to get us a two bed bedroom, which means that I'm going to have to give another big lie to Uncle Byron on why I'm not coming home tonight.

Other than feeling guilty for all the lies I've told tonight that can get me thrown into a deep hole, I can be happy that I'm getting some time with Noel before Alison needs his help again. I guess I can count this spur of the moment dinner as our first official date?


	57. Chapter 57

**Here you go everyone, another chapter.**

 **Hope you've been enjoying the story, would love to hear from you.**

 **So please, leave reviews and let me know what you think.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

After settling in, Noel ends up having to leave. So for awhile I'm in the motel by myself, waiting for him to get back from helping Alison with a few things. It's all over the news that the girls are missing and I'm so worried to my stomach when it shows their faces, knowing that they aren't missing at all. This is not good if they are on the news.

I hadn't called Uncle Bryon yet to let him know that we'd be "staying at Noel's friend's place" because I wanted it to be late enough for it to seem like we couldn't come home. So when Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron both end up on the line to ask if I knew where Aria was and told them that I hadn't talked to her since I left to play basketball I tried to postpone telling them.

"The police told us that Spencer's car was found in Philadelphia, but they can't find them. Are you sure you haven't seen them?" Aunt Ella asks, just as Noel walks into the room.

I gulp a bit, now I have to tell a bit of the truth. "But I'm not in Philly." I act confused, "I'm in New York."

Noel gives me a look, "What are you doing?" he whispers.

I sign with my hand to give me his phone.

The line goes quiet for a second, "What? You said you would be in the city, as in Philadelphia." Uncle Byron says, his voice sounding a bit mad.

"No, I thought I said New York City." I take a few seconds to pretend that I'm looking at the text I sent. Since I know it will say _the city_ and not obviously _New York City_ I grab Noel's phone instead, "Oh, crap." I start talking to them again as I type down that I'll explain to him when I'm done. "I'm sorry. My phone totally spazzed and auto corrected on me. I didn't mean the city as in Philly, I meant here."

I give Noel back his phone as I hear Uncle Byron sigh, "It's okay. Just stick close to Noel."

"We do not want to see your picture on the news too." Aunt Ella adds.

Noel looks at me and nods as I tell them. "I know. I will."

"Where are you guys now?" Uncle Byron asks.

"Heading to his friend's place."

"Okay. Well we'll let you know if we hear from Aria." Aunt Ella says.

"Okay." then before they say anything I add, "By the way, we may stick around at his friend's house. It's a long drive home."

The lines goes quiet again, "Okay. Just let us know before midnight." Uncle Byron says.

"Gotcha."

"Love you." They both get out at the same time.

My heart speeds up a bit, this really sucks. "I love you guys too."

I hang up and look at him. He sits down beside me as he watches me for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry." I tell him, "I panicked when they asked if I had seen the girls in Philly. It just spilled out."

He takes a deep breath and tells me that it's okay. No one is going to put together that they'd be with me because he's making sure that we have an alibi by actually having us show up at his friend's party. So we do a quick pass by, make sure that people see us, interact, and then leave. It was so packed that no one would notice that we were even gone. This way if anything goes wrong at least we were seen in more places than just the diner and here.

When we get back to the motel I turn on the TV. But he makes me change the channel when the first thing that pops up are the girls faces on the news again, telling me that watching it knowing the truth will just make it worse. So we start to flip through the channels till we find something.

We are both hanging out on the same bed. I'm laying beside him, him playing around a bit with my pinky with his pointer finger. For awhile I don't really acknowledge it, but then I roll over closer to him and lay my head onto his chest, resting my hand on his stomach.

He wraps his arms around my body. The familiar safeness I've always loved to feel with the guy I like is back and it is wonderful.

We lay in this position for what is probably an hour. Laughing at the comedy show that we decided to watch. When the show is done I start to flip through the channels to see what's on next. We still haven't heard from the girls.

He shifts his head and kisses me on the forehead, making me smile. Then he slips his hand down to the hand without the remote and slides his fingers between mine.

I look up at him, seeing the smile on his face. Finally the urge to kiss him outways my fears as I put down the remote and grab the side of his neck, bringing him to me.

He kisses me back, slipping his tongue into my mouth and I feel as it grazes mine. He puts his hand onto my back and I lift myself up as he gets into a sitting position and sits me on his lap. I wrap my arms around his neck, kissing him harder as his hands go up to grab onto my waist and pulls me towards him. My stomach is twisting in knots as he kisses my neck all the way back to my lips.

But the moment gets ruined when his phone rings and pulls his lips away from mine. "Damn."

"Don't answer it." I breathe heavily from the intensity of our interaction.

His phone is still ringing on the nightstand, an unknown number on the screen. He inhales deeply and grabs my hands, rubbing them with his fingers. "I can't, it's probably Alison."

I take a deep breath, "Fine." I get off his legs, "But they better be in some serious trouble to ruin our mood."

He laughs and kisses me. "I'm sure they are getting under attack by some aliens."

I laugh and plop back onto the pillow beside him, "That would be a new adventure for these girls for sure."

He smiles and grabs his phone, lying his head back onto my stomach as he answers. "Hello?"

I smile at him as he looks up at me, rubbing his hair in return. I can't believe I'm with this guy. I mean, I _kissed_ Noel Kahn. Like really kissed him. The most popular boy in my grade and somehow I got the courage not only to make a move for the first time since Blake, but to make a move with _him_.

" _What_?" his voice sounds a little scared as he says that, sitting up in panic.

I give him a curious look, "What's up?"

"Yea. Be right there." he hangs up and looks at me, "We have to go."

"What? Why?"

"They _were_ attacked."

My heart sinks and I get up off the bed. "What do you mean?"

"Someone tried to kill them. In the process your pal Fitz somehow knew they were there and saved them. But…" he hesitates.

"But?"

He doesn't answer, giving me a sad look.

"But what, Noel?"

"He...got shot."

My head starts to spin, my vision going in and out for a second. I put my hand to my stomach, heat rising to my face. "I don't feel good."

"Whoa." he catches me before I can fall, "Deep breaths." He helps me sit on the bed, laying me back onto it.

"He's dead?"

"I don't know. But I need to go over right away to call the ambulance."

"Why you?"

"No one is supposed to know that Alison's alive. So I need to cover for her."

I shake my head, "I can't believe she has a hold on you too."

"It's complicated. But we have to go if we want Fitz to live through this."

The place we dropped them off at is a few blocks away, so we fast walk to the building. When we get there Noel looks at me as I spin my body around, trying to see where the girls are. They are nowhere to be seen.

"Where are they?"

He looks up and I follow his gaze to see that Alison is looking down from the roof.

"You never told her I came, did you?"

He looks at me and shakes his head, "Not exactly."

"Fantastic."

He gives me an apologetic look, "Meet them on the side of the building."

"But…"

"I got this. We'll meet later." he kisses me and has me go as he grabs his phone to call an ambulance. He doesn't want me anywhere near here.

As I'm walking over I see a blur of black run to the alley I'm heading to. For a second I'm frozen, then I take off after it. But when I get to the side of the building that leads to the alleyway the person that I'm sure was _A_ disappeared. Instead I see four of the girls get down from the fire escape farther down from where I am standing. All of a sudden the thought of _A_ leaves my mind as I suck up my fear of alleyways and walk to them.

They all seem really shaken up as they get closer to me. Aria and Hanna have their arms looped between each other as they walk in front of Em and Spencer. But they quickly let go of one another when they see me.

Aria has some blood on her hands as she runs towards me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

I bend down better to hug her, "Are you okay?"

"No." I hear her crying, "Ezra…"

"Got hurt. I know." I let go, still bent over enough to be at eye level. "But are _you_ okay?"

She slowly nods, tears streaming down her face.

I take a relieved breath, "What happened?"

She explains as fast as she can that they were all hanging out in an apartment talking. Then they went down to the lounge area. It's where Alison works, and she watches the owner's apartment when he's out of town.

After Noel passed by to give Alison things that she may need to leave the country if they don't find out who _A_ is they talked some more, and that's when all hell broke loose. Someone shot bullets through the window to get inside while in the middle of her explaining what happened the night she went missing. They climbed out the fire escape when they got back to the apartment and headed up to the roof. Ezra had popped out of nowhere just as _A_ came into view from across them and struggled around with _A,_ who tried to shoot Alison. The gun went off again during their fight and when the gun dropped to the ground Hanna picked it up, threatening to shoot _A_. For some reason she didn't and _A_ escaped by jumping over to the building next door.

My breath gets caught for a second, "W-What?"

"It was a lot of action at once." Aria says, trying to keep herself from bawling. "By the time we realized that the gunfire had actually hit Ezra he collapsed to the ground and eventually went unconscious."

My mouth drops, feeling tears come to my eyes. Ezra may have messed up, but he doesn't deserve to die.

I don't even know what to say as I look behind her and see that Alison is now standing with the others. Spencer and Emily are both holding onto Alison as if she needs to be protected.

For a second my heart sinks when I notice her. All I see is younger me getting picked on by her. All the bad memories rushing to me at once. Then heat rises to my face from anger instead of fear, because this is not seventh grade anymore.

"This is your fault." I tell Alison and start to walk over to her. "You almost got them killed!"

"Jessie, stop!" Aria yells at me and grabs my arm to pull me back.

I eye Alison as Spencer now comes over to me and they both block my way to get to her. She looks exactly the same. The same long blond hair that gave her that _I'm popular and you aren't_ aspect, and the same blue eyes that used to scare everyone. She's taller than she used to be, now probably being the same height as each other, and she isn't wearing the nice clothes she was spoiled with by being rich.

As I watch her I notice that her eyes are bulging a bit. She looks like she's actually scared of _me_ for once. I am no longer the short kid she used to pick on. So I could take her down in a heartbeat now.

But other than the few minor changes from getting older she is still the same person I've always hated.

"Let go!" I yell at them.

"Calm down." Spencer tells me, holding her hand tightly to my shoulder.

I try to get passed them, but they both pin me to the wall of the building beside us. "You deserve to get your ass kicked right now, Alison."

"Jessie, I'm sorry." She tells me in a calm yet scared tone.

"Oh. You know my name?" I ask sarcastically. "Who would have thought."

She gives me a sad look, "I just want to come home. I didn't know this would happen."

I laugh in a not nice way, "Someone has been after you and you didn't know that bringing them here would have this person follow them. Try to hurt anyone who gets in their way to have you?" I shake my head, "Not as smart as you used to be are you."

"Jessie…" she tries to start.

"No." I shake my head, my eyes flaming in anger. "Don't talk to me like you know me, Alison. You bullied me for two years. So don't act like my friend just because now you're in trouble and need help."

Her eyes sadden even more. It's hard to believe that the fire in her eyes is completely gone. Old Alison would have shot back a rude comment to bring me down, or maybe even tried to hit me herself.

"Jessie, we need to go." Spencer tells me, grabbing my face to look at her instead of Alison. "We can't stay here."

I take deep breaths, "She shouldn't be letting Noel take the heat for this."

"He'll be fine." Alison tells me, her familiar snarky tone slightly in her voice.

"This is _your_ mess. You clean it up."

"Stop it." Emily gets out from beside Alison. "Leave her alone."

I laugh, "Great. Already sticking up for her. I knew this would..." I start to lose my breath now as I collapse in Aria and Spencer's arms.

"Whoa." Spencer holds me up, "Breathe."

"What's wrong with her?" Alison's voice sounds far, my vision going away.

"Panic attack." Aria tells her.

They set me onto the floor, trying to calm me down. Then a minute later the sound of sirens finally comes. Once we hear that I can tell that Aria is freaked out and doesn't hesitate to take off. Spencer, Hanna and Emily go after her when she doesn't wait to hear a plan. I know she went to see how Ezra is doing.

Them four leaving has me alone with Alison in the alley, still trying to catch my breath from the panic attack. I feel like it's deja vu from when she had her eighth grade friends beat me up and was standing all high and mighty above me. But this time she doesn't have a smile as she bends down and sits beside me. She generally looks concerned.

"You okay?"

I don't even look at her as I take deep breaths. "I really don't want to talk to you."

"Jessie…"

"Stop." I look at her, "What do we possibly have to talk about right now?"

"You mean besides _A_?"

I give her a mean look and turn away, "Yes."

"How about the fact that you can barely breath? That you look like you are about to pass out?"

"I'm fine."

"No you're not."

I take another deep breath, "Leave me alone, Alison."

"Are you still scared of me, Jessie?" she asks confused.

I shake my head a few times, "No."

It's like she can sense I'm lying, "I still scare you." her tone sounds sad as she says it.

" _Stop_." I eye her, my chest is flaming from the tightness it's getting. She's right that being next to her is making my anxiety rise more. But I will not let her know that. "I get panic attacks when I'm stressed, okay. Now stop trying to act like you care about me."

"I pulled you out of the lodge, so clearly I do care."

I shake my head, "You just didn't want to be responsible for us dying in there because it's your fault the girls have been in this mess."

She takes a deep breath, "Think what you want, Jessie. Because I'm not the same girl you remember from six years ago."

"Come on." Spencer's voice echoes a bit through the alley when she gets to us. "We need to figure out where they are taking Ezra." She holds out her hands to me.

I grab her hands and attempt to get up, but I'm having a hard time so Alison helps my effort to get to my feet. I wish she would stop acting like she's a different person. Because as soon as she gets what she wants she is going to dump every single one of us and turn back into her old self.

"I got it." I say a little nastily to her.

"Jessie, please calm down." Emily tells me, "She's trying to help."

I pat off my pants for anything that may have stuck on it when I was sitting on the floor. But I don't bother to make a comment this time as I wobbly walk away and head down the alley.

I walk in front of them fast paced in anger, not stopping for anything. None of them bother to talk or stop me because they all know my temper is not the best right now. Then all of a sudden I feel someone put there hand onto my shoulder, stopping me from going farther.

I turn around to see Hanna. "You okay?"

I look behind her and see that everyone else stopped. Everyone is looking over their shoulder as if scared, except for Aria who is trying to hold back tears.

"Fine."

She gives me a sad look, "I know this is tough."

"Tough? This is more than tough, Han."

"I know, I get it. But just give her a chance."

I don't know about that, but right now I have no time to think about her while Ezra has a bullet in his stomach. Is he alive, or is he dead? No one knows and I'm freaked the hell out.


	58. Chapter 58

**Hey Liars, here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **Pretty Little Liars does not belong to me.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

After a little bit more of walking we find ourselves in a pretty deserted area in New York. Emily and Spencer go into some store to grab a few things. Like burner phones and mace. While they are doing that Aria is standing beside me as I try to keep her calm by talking about random stuff that comes to mind, but she's so distracted that she barely pays mind. So my second best idea is to allow her to hold my hand. Everytime she is stressed or feels like she is going to lose it she squeezes, hard, but I don't mind it.

Eventually I call Noel, wanting to see what's going on and where they sent Ezra. But he doesn't answer me, which freaks me out a bit. With everything that's going on I don't know what to expecting anymore.

Then a few minutes later, as if I need for her to walk over Alison pops up, "Can I use your phone?"

I look at her, "Why?"

"I need to call Noel and he isn't answering on the burner phone we got."

"I can do that for you."

"No offense, Jessie, but it's private."

"Nothing about this is private anymore."

She takes a deep breath, "Please?"

I watch her for a second, "Why do you think he's going to answer me if he isn't answering you?" I take out my phone from my pocket.

"I think he'd pick up when he sees his girlfriend's number."

My heart sinks, all the girls look at us when they hear her. "What?"

Her face drops for a second, as if realizing that I didn't react the way I should have. "Isn't Noel your boyfriend?" her voice shakes, like she's afraid I'm going to do something.

"No?"

"Oh." She gives me an apologetic look, "I saw him kiss you from the roof before you took off to meet with us. I just assumed."

I can feel my face turning red now as heat rises from feeling embarrassed, "I…"

"You're dating Noel?" Aria asks in disbelief.

I shake my head, "No. No I just…"

"Are you crazy?" Spencer interrupts me as she walks closer with Em and Hanna. "It's _Noel_."

I take a deep breath, my vision starting to spin from feeling overwhelmed. But I do all I can not to freak out. "He's not who you think he is. I mean, he just helped you guys. He's helping her." I point to Alison.

"So you're admitting that you guys are together." Emily gets in now, pretty much ignoring my point.

"No." I take another breath, "We just...we like each other. That's all."

"That's _all_?" Hanna says, "Don't act like this is not a big deal."

"It's not. Stop making him out to be a bad person. You guys don't know him as well as you think." I notice that Alison moves away from us and watches by the wall of an abandoned store behind the girls. Why do I feel like she just did this on purpose. "Do you not see what just happened?" I raise my voice a little this time as I point behind them. "She sucked us into an argument that could have been avoided."

"Don't blame her for _you_ liking someone you shouldn't, Jessie." Emily says, "She's not the one who kept that secret from us."

"It wasn't exactly a secret. I just didn't know how to tell you guys. I mean, look how you guys are acting now. When was I going to have time to explain without getting a lecture?"

"That's not the point, Jessie." Aria says now. "We shouldn't be hearing this from Alison, it should have been from you."

"I understand that, Ria." I take a deep breath, trying to calm down. I so want to hit Alison right now. "I don't get what the big deal is. You warmed up to Mona, why not him?"

Her face drops, "Wait... _that's_ why you were so quick to give Mona a shot?"

 _Oh, no_. I think to myself, because I clearly gave away too much.

"Because you had already liked Noel and was trying to give the satisfaction to someone else hoping that if I forgave her I'd be okay with him?"

The heat in my face starts to get hotter now. This is typical that one thing Alison says blows up into something bigger than it is. I give her a quick look to see that she is now standing against the wall with her arms crossed. She isn't showing it but she is definitely enjoying this. Somehow they aren't even noticing it.

"Is that the only reason why you came tonight?" Hanna asks, a little bit of hurt is in her voice but it's also very angry. "Because of Noel?"

Now the anger gets the better of me, "You know what? I'm not going to be attacked for liking someone just because you guys don't approve of him." I walk around them and head straight for Alison, "And I am not going to take you bullying me again into being kicked out of the group."

She gets off the wall and stares at me innocently just as Spencer grabs me around the middle and holds me back. "I don't know what you mean."

"You know exactly what I mean."

"Jessie, chill." Spencer tells me.

"I am not the same person you scared away six years ago, Alison. You can't treat me like the little kid I was."

"You have come a long way." She says in a soft voice.

"Jessie, come on." Spencer says, pulling me more before I can completely explode. "Let's talk."

She pulls me to the side as I pull myself away from her grip, "Please don't tell me you believe that she didn't set me up for that."

She gives me look that I can't make out what it means, "She didn't set you up for anything, Jessie. She made a valid mistake. I mean, you kissed him out in the open. What were you expecting?"

I take a deep breath, "Whatever."

She watches me for a few seconds, "You should have told us."

"Spence, I didn't know how to. Things weren't anything serious until quite recently. I needed to build up myself to find a way to tell you. And I didn't think it was a good idea exposing this while you guys were going through your own problems."

She slowly nods, "I get that." she looks at Alison, "But you need to relax with your temper. We don't know what she's been through for the last four years. You are scaring her."

I watch her for a second, not being able to believe she just said that. "As if she doesn't deserve it from me."

"Just...calm down, okay?"

I roll my eyes, slowly nodding. "Fine."

Once she calms me down we all decide to split up to get to the hospital that they figure out Ezra is at. Aria goes with Alison, and I go with the other three. They think it's probably the best idea for me _not_ to be near her right now.

We are pretty sure that _A_ will be trying to kill Ezra for supposedly knowing who they are. So if that is true then once we get to the hospital first _A_ will see us there as a distraction till Alison and Aria come some time after us for the plan to work. There will be a trick for _A_ to go after Alison instead in order to keep this person away from Fitz. Out of the four of us I'll be sticking around, while the other three watch after Alison. I'm not risking being away from Ezra just because she tells me to. But at least it will leave the hospital _A_ free for Aria to stick around at the hospital too.

When we get there I go over to a desk to see if I can get any info on Ezra. The only thing they would tell me since I'm not family is that he is in surgery. Then I meet the other three in the waiting room. They spotted _A_ and are just waiting for Aria and Alison to get here.

While waiting, the girls pretend that they are interested in magazines. As if making it seem like they don't suspect _A_ to be around. A few times Spencer looks over at me, seeing that I'm texting Noel when he finally has the time. She doesn't lecture me about it, she just tells me to make sure I know who he is before getting too comfortable with him. Then she gives me the number to the burner for emergency purposes, because the plan is about to begin as soon as Hanna gets back.

I watch Hanna slide into the seat beside Emily just as, " _Alison DiLaurentis to the emergency room. Alison DiLaurentis to the emergency room_." a woman's voice echoes through the hospital.

This is the cue that things are about to start as I watch the girls stand up a few seconds later and look to the side.

I follow their gaze and see someone in a black hoodie walking to the elevator. They all look at me and nod in a _See you soon_ kind of way and then take off. My stomach is turning in fear for them right now.

I sit here for awhile by myself, checking my phone to make sure none of them call or text me. Then not too long later Aria walks into the waiting room, looking towards the doors that say _surgery_ on it. She doesn't even notice I'm here until I grab her hand. She turns around and looks down at the seat I'm in.

"Hey."

She half smiles and sits beside me. "Cops are blocking the door."

I nod, "Yea. Well you guys did tell Hanna to give the cops a heads up that someone might be after him. They are doing their job."

I don't know how long we stay here for before I decide that it's too much for me and have to grab some water. Because we are both so worried that we can't even talk to each other right now. Noel had asked me to head back to the motel if I needed a break, I may just take him up on that offer.

I'm standing here for awhile, staring into space by the vending machines. That's when I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around in a bit of panic. Aria is staring at me in concern.

"It's just me."

"Sorry." I take a breath, "Little…."

"Jumpy?"

I half smile, "Yea."

She slowly nods, her face seeming unreadable. "I overheard the doctor saying that they got the bullet out. But I don't think they know how stable he is yet."

I give her a sad look and then pull her into a hug. She wraps her arms around me pretty tight, "He's going to be fine."

"Don't promise me that." she says, holding back her urge to cry.

"I won't promise it, but I know he will."

She takes a deep breath, "You don't need to stay here."

I shake my head, "I want to."

"Jessie…" she pulls away, "I don't want you to be anywhere near any of us if _A_ comes back. You should go and stay with Noel. He'll keep you safe."

I raise an eyebrow, "You trust Noel more to keep me safe than you trust yourself?"

"I'm half your size and have little to no muscle, Jessie. What am I going to do if _A_ attacks you."

"I'm more worried if _A_ attacks _you_." it gets quiet for a few seconds, "And why the sudden interest to shove me away to Noel."

She shrugs, leaning up against the machine. "I do pay attention to your life. I've seen the way he looks at you. Even if I didn't realize till now on why he's been looking at you the way he has." She looks up at me, "At a time like this I think we should both be with the person we are into. Before it's too late."

She basically doesn't even give me the option to argue this. She practically throws me out of the hospital herself as she grabs away my phone and calls Noel herself, telling him to come get me.

I regret this move for sure, because instead of heading to the motel we end up at a coffee shop. It's close to some theater that I find out Ezra's family actually owns. But when we walk in Alison is sitting there, the girls are not with her. Instead sitting with her is CeCe Drake.

Alison turns her eyes away from CeCe as they were talking and stares at me. Her eyes getting soft and half smiles. Then CeCe does the same, but when she looks she has a confused face because we have never met before.

I look at Noel, "Why didn't you tell me we were meeting them here." I look back at them, "Especially someone who has been on the run for _murder_."

"Because I knew you'd say no."

"Did you not listen to a word I said when I told you what happened when I saw Alison a few hours ago?"

"I listened to every word. But the reason why I'm in New York is to help her. I can't just drop everything now."

I take a deep breath and nod, "Fine."

He smiles at me and grabs my hand, slipping his finger between mine and pulls me along to the table they are at.

As soon as we sit down across from the girls I realize how much alike CeCe and Alison look. Same blond hair and blue eyes. Even the features look slightly similar. It's bizarre to think that she could actually be Alison's older sister or something.

"CeCe, this is Jessie." Alison tells her, then looks at me. "Jessie, Cece."

I slightly smile, "So you're the famous CeCe Drake that has been all over the news for killing Wilden."

She laughs a little, "Apparently."

"I'm glad you're here, Jessie." Alison tells me before I can say anything else. "I wanted to apologize for dropping that bomb about you and Noel. I had no idea the girls didn't know."

I side look at Noel, who gives me a smile. Then turn back to her, pushing down my urge to be an ass. "It's fine. Honest mistake."

"So what's going on?" Noel asks, "What's the emergency."

"And where are the others?" I ask.

"Back at the theater we are staying at. No one uses it at this time. They were sleeping when I left."

"Oh."

She slightly smiles as CeCe starts to explain the situation. CeCe did in fact kill Wilden, but it was out of defense to help Alison in some twisted way. I'm going to act like I didn't hear this, because I'm not going to dig myself into a deeper hole. But now she needs to go somewhere where no one is looking for her because apparently someone made it seem like she escaped from the police when she was caught. I'm assuming it's _A_ , which is most likely Alison's thought as well as we make eye contact for a second. _A_ ratted her out and then made her into a bigger target for the cops. Now she's afraid to stick around, so Alison is giving the stuff she was going to use for herself to leave the country to CeCe. I guess Alison does have a heart.

Then she makes me realize she does have some feelings when she starts to get a little emotional about CeCe leaving and possibly never seeing her again. They must have been closer than I thought before Alison went missing.

"Is this the part where you guys kiss?" Noel asks, a smile on his face.

"Noel." I punch him on the shoulder, holding back a laugh. "Don't be an ass."

He rubs his arm, "What. Had to ask."

"You're ridiculous."

He smiles and leans in, kissing me. "And this is why you like me."

I blush a little. Then I notice that both girls are looking at me with smiles, which makes me feel uncomfortable.

"You better get going." Alison stands and looks down at CeCe.

"Thank you." she says after the hug. Then she smiles at me and Noel and leaves.

After CeCe leaves we all walk outside the place, getting into Noel's car. He is gonna drive her back to where she is staying and then we are heading back to the motel.

When we get to the theater she taps onto my shoulder from the back seat and I turn around to her, "Do you want to come inside? I'm sure girls would appreciate seeing you."

"Oh." I slightly smile, "If they are sleeping then I don't want to wake them up."

She nods a few times, "Well. Can I at least talk to you for a second?"

"Um…" I nod, "Sure."

I walk behind her towards another alleyway, so I'm trying to keep calm at the thought of an alley while still trying to be tough being around her. This feels so weird seeing her, walking around with her. I was literally up her ass not so long ago and now it's seeming as if everything is normal. But nothing with this girl is ever normal. First she's a bully and now she got everyone sucked into her mess with this _A_ person. I mean, Mona apparently always knew that Alison was alive because she saw her the night she disappeared, but not ever Mona went to the extent of trying to find Alison, because she was happy she was gone.

We stop walking, still able to see Noel's car from here. "I'm sorry for what I did to you all those years ago."

I watch her for a few seconds, not knowing how to even answer that. "I'd say it's okay. But it isn't." Is what I come up with.

She slightly smiles, "I know. I put you through a lot."

"That's definitely an understatement."

She takes a breath, "I'm also sorry for Mona."

I lose my breath for a second, "Why...why would you be sorry about that."

"Because I knew she was _A_. Yet I did nothing because I was too scared to be found out. If it wasn't for that she wouldn't have kidnapped you and hurt you the way she did. I saw what you went through after all that. You struggled so much."

I shrug, "It doesn't matter now." I look to the side, "I gotta go."

"Wait." I look at her, she has a serious look now. "Don't tell the girls about CeCe."

Typical, but I know why. "I won't. They don't need to be an accessory to murder too. I learned that much from Spencer's parents."

"If it comes down to it I'm taking the heat. You and Noel will be left out of it."

This kind of shocks me, but I nod. Then I watch her walk down the alley and I turn around. I fast walk back towards the street wondering to myself who is this new person? Is it an act or has she really changed.


	59. Chapter 59

**Hey there everyone, here's another chapter.**

 **I do not own PLL, belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Enjoy and please review.**

* * *

Just before I can walk through the door of the motel room my phone starts to ring. As I take it out I'm surprised to see Mona's name pop up on the screen.

I look at Noel, "I'll be right in."

He smiles and heads inside without me.

I brace myself, because it's not normal for Mona to call me unless it had to do with Mike when they were dating. Especially not at this time, it's a little weird. So it's either important in a really good way, or really bad way.

"Hello?"

"Jessie, thank God."

"What, what's wrong?"

"Have you seen the news?"

"I know, the girls are missing."

"It's not just that, Jessie. They found out that Alison is _alive_."

My heart sinks, because if the cops know then something big is going on. "W-What?" I play stupid.

"You know what this means, right? We are going to be back at the bottom pit of losers."

I take a deep breath, "Wait...the news said she's alive?"

"Yes. And I need you to back me up on something. We need to meet and talk."

"I'm not in town. What's so important that you can't tell me over the phone?"

She takes a breath, "It's about Ali. About when she comes back."

"What makes you think she's coming back?"

"What makes you think she won't?"

I'm quiet for a second, "What do you need me to back you up on?"

"Sticking together."

I slant my eyebrows in confusing, "Huh?"

"When she comes back we need to band together. Let her know that she can't bring us down, treat us like she used to. Lucas is on board with this. If we can get a group of former people who got picked on by her we'd bring her down to what we used to be."

My head is spinning, "That's suicide, Mona."

"No. It's payback."

I don't know how long I'm at the motel for after this conversation. But for most of the time I'm trying not to panic myself on this situation as I watch TV. I agreed to come here to hang out with Noel, not to be pulled into a mission to keep Alison safe. Doesn't matter if she's changed as she seems or like they say, she is still the same girl that will always haunt my past.

"Hey." Noel is laying down beside me and shifts his tired body closer. I'm sitting up against the pillows as he grabs me and brings me to him, "What's wrong?"

I continue to watch the TV as I shrug, "Nothing."

He pokes me in the stomach, making me smile. "I know that's a lie."

I take a deep breath, "I'm fine. Just tired."

"I know your tired mood. This is not it."

I slowly look at him, "Fine. It's Alison."

He slowly nods and sits up, sitting in front of me so I'll look at him. "I know this is a lot to grasp. Her being back and all."

"That's the thing, she isn't back. Not really."

He raises his eyebrows, "How is she not?"

"I mean, she hasn't even stepped foot back into Rosewood yet. She's not on her home turf, she's hiding, but yet she manages to still pull the strings. They could take so much advantage of this situation."

He slowly nods, "I get it. But you know those girls will always be her personal puppets."

I nod, shifting my eyes back to the TV. "That's what I'm afraid of."

I end up falling asleep in Noel's arms as he held me from behind. We were both exhausted from all this craziness tonight. He fell asleep faster than I had. But I'm waken up sometime later by my phone ringing on the nightstand beside me.

The light from the cracked open door of the bathroom comes through and blinds me a bit. But the light to the phone is even brighter as I have to close one eye when I grab it. It's an unknown number. Now normally I'd freak out because unknown usually means _A_ , but _A_ doesn't make phone calls.

"Hello?" I say in a groggy whispered voice.

"Jessie!"

"Ria?" I roll over, rubbing my eye. "Why are you yelling?"

"Do you happen to be at the theater Alison and the girls are staying at?"

"No, why?"

"Ezra woke up."

"That's great, Ria." I'm still half asleep having this conversation as I yawn.

"Yes, but...there's a problem."

My heart sinks a little from hearing those words. "What do you mean there's a problem. Is he okay?"

"No, I mean, yes, he's fine. That's not what I meant though."

"Okay?"

I hear her take a deep breath, "He just told me that Shana's _A_."

I sit up so fast that I give myself a headrush. " _What_?"

"She had been at the hospital with me till recently. He freaked out when he saw her and then almost died from the stress it gave him. Now she is nowhere to be found and is probably after Ali right now. But they don't know that because they aren't picking up."

"And she'll kill the others for being in the way, just like she tried before."

"Don't get ahead of yourself."

"I'll meet you there."

"No, Jess…"

I don't let her finish as I hang up on her. Then I look at Noel and kiss him. "I'll be right back."

He's groggy as he turns onto his back, "Where you going?" he's barely audible as he said that.

"Have to help Aria with something."

I grab my stuff and haul ass to where the place is as I put it on my gps. I may not like Alison, but I sure as hell am not going to let Shana kill my friends.

I manage to get there before Aria does. The echo of people talking comes as I squeeze myself through the back alley door. I tiptoe over to the side of the stage and see that the four girls are being cornered by Shana, a gun in her hands.

"Jenna." Alison says, the gun pointed at her, "You fell in love with her."

"You have no idea who she is." Shana tells her.

"We never meant…" Em starts to say and walks closer.

"Get back!" She turns the gun to Emily, "Or I'll blow your head off."

This makes me panic, afraid she is going to hurt them. So what do I do instead? I tiptoe towards them as she is finishing what feels like her speech for revenge. Leave it to me to try to play the hero I know I'm not.

When I get closer I notice a prop gun near me, but before I can reach for it I look up and see that Spencer notices me and her eyes shift my way. That gets Shana's attention and she spins around. When she gets all the way around her eyes bug out and swings a punch at me. I manage to duck out of the way and take a run towards her, tackling her to the floor.

"Jessie!" they all yell.

Somehow the gun doesn't get knocked out of her hands as she rolls on top of me. She tries to hit me with the gun but I put my hands up and manage to block her attempts. I push her off and stand, turning around to her. She gets to her feet and tries to hit me again but I dodge it. I'm no martial artist but I did pick up on some moves watching my brother when he used to take karate.

Now the only reason why she is probably not trying to shoot me is because she doesn't really want to hurt me. But she looks like she's running out of options, because to keep the girls from coming closer she has the gun on them while trying to fight me at the same time. This is my reason for why I'm not fully trying to go after her. I don't want her to get spooked and try to shoot my friends in response.

Then I see Spencer try to maneuver her way to help me, so when I look at her I lose my concentration on Shana and she rushes towards me. She manages to tackle me to the floor making me hit the back of my head when I hit the wooden floor.

She aims the gun at my face. "You shouldn't have come here, Jessie."

I put my hands up in surrender, my breathing picking up as she stands up with the gun still on me and forces her foot down onto my stomach, "Shana, stop." I'm seeing a bit of double now.

"I didn't want to do this."

I see her finger go to squeeze the trigger just as Aria comes from behind her with a prop gun in her hands. "Hey, Shana"

She turns to Aria and gets the handgun hit upward when Aria swings the prop gun. It shoots one of the stage lights, the other girls scream in panic, and in one swift motion Aria hits her in the chest with the gun. Shana topples backwards and trips over my outstretched legs, making her go flying off the stage and lands what sounds to be very hard onto the floor.

My heart completely sinks, the imagine of her falling repeating in my mind as I sit myself up. I watch the girls run to look over the edge of the stage to see where she landed.

I finally get my breathing under control from the rush of adrenaline, trying to blink away my double vision. Then I get up, feeling a bit light headed as I walk closer and watch Emily go down there to see if Shana is alive, because from here she looks dead.

Hanna is holding onto Alison in concern as she starts to cry. Shana was her friend and betrayed her, I get why she's so upset. But it doesn't make me feel any less angry that for the second time tonight she almost got them killed.

I wobble a little bit as I walk to them and fall into Aria when I get to her side. She turns and grabs onto me so I won't fall, she has a look of shock and panic on her face, "You okay?" she asks.

I slowly nod, "Yea. I'm good. Are you?"

"Not sure yet." she practically whispers.

"Nice, kung fu moves, Jessie." Spencer says from beside me, half smiling.

I try to smile back, but the mood doesn't seem right. Especially when Em's face looks scared when she stares up at us and says, "She's dead."

We all look down at Emily, fear on all of our faces. My heart is pounding so fast that I can feel it in my ears. Then Aria turns away, letting go of me as she walks off. I guess that answers my is she okay question.

Spencer goes after her. "Hey, you did what you had to do, okay?"

Emily gets onto the stage and walks to them now as I sit on the stage's sofa. My head is still pounding as a little bit of fear and shock goes through me. Not only because I watched someone die, but because I gave a bit of a hand in helping. Aria may have hit her, but she tripped over my legs and _then_ fell.

"Spencer's right." Emily tells Aria, who looks like she is about to pass out. "She would have killed all of us."

She seems like she isn't sure how to react at first, then she looks at them and says. "It really is over." she breaths a few times, "It's over."

"Yea." Both Em and Spencer say as they hug her.

"Let's go home." Emily says, looking at us all.

"We can't just leave her here." Alison tells them, still being held by Hanna.

Spencer grabs her burner phone and dials, not knowing who she calls until she says. "There's been an accident." I'm assuming it's 911.

Hanna walks over to me after letting Alison go and kneels beside me. "You were such a badass."

I slightly smile, "I wasn't going to let her kill you."

She seems to sense my mood, "I know what you're thinking."

I watch her for a second, "What am I thinking?"

"You feel like you killed her too."

I try to smile, "What? That's nuts."

"Jessie, come on. I know you more than you probably think."

I shrug a bit, "I'm fine."

She seems like she's debating whether to continue arguing, then thinks better of it. She knows that I'll just keep denying it, so she changes the subject. "Where's Noel?"

"Back at the motel."

She nods, looking at the others. "You're gonna stay with him."

I look at her in confusion, "Why?"

"Because you weren't supposed to be with us. When we go to the police station back home we don't need to get you involved."

I slowly nod, "You sure?"

They all nod now, even Alison. "Positive."

"Let's get out of here." Spencer says, "The cops will be on their way."

So now there isn't just the murder of who killed Wilden that I know about. Now I know about Shana. How did my life become so complicated?

After we leave the girls bring me back to the motel before heading to the bus station to go back to Rosewood. So I slip into the room to grab the keys to Noel's car to get their cells and then they say their goodbyes before they leave. I probably look like shit as I walk back into the motel room and don't think twice as I plop myself back onto the bed beside Noel. He is still asleep, which would make sense it being the middle of the night and all.

When I wake up in the morning I see that Noel is sitting up, watching some TV and has a bowl of cereal in his hands. Then I roll onto my back and slowly sit up, my head still hurts a bit.

"Goodmorning."

I smile as I look at him, rubbing my eyes. "Morning."

"Had an eventful night, huh?"

I look at him and slightly smile, "You can say that."

He laughs, "Well, it looks like they went back to Rosewood." he points to the TV, "The girls, including Alison, are no longer missing persons."

I nod, "Yea I know. They passed by before they left."

"Oh, did you give them their stuff too?"

I nod, "Yes I did."

He puts his bowl down and moves closer, "I'm sorry about all this."

I shake my head, "Don't be. I've probably been through worse."

He turns my head to him, "Do you want to go see Mr. Fitz before we go back to town?"

I think about this for a few seconds. Do I? I mean, I haven't seen him since the night we found out he wasn't honest with us. How do I even begin to talk to him after that? But in the end I go against seeing him. Not because I don't want to, more because I'm not ready. Plus having to see him in the state he's in makes my heart hurt a bit. I don't know if I can handle it right now.


	60. Chapter 60

**And here's another for you all!**

 **Hope you enjoy, and please review.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform get the credit.**

* * *

On our way home the ride is a bit quiet. Me and Noel are both exhausted and probably terrified on what happened, not to mention the fact that the number one asshole in Rosewood is officially back. I haven't told him what went down after I left the motel, I didn't want to worry him. Or involve him in more chaos.

"Babe." He says finally, making me smile. "Would you be up to spending the weekend at my cabin? Me and Eric (his brother) are sharing it with some friends."

I look at him, "Party?"

He shrugs, "Not really. But we could definitely up interaction to make it fun."

I laugh, "I'll let you know. Got my attention though."

He slightly smiles, "Don't say no though because of the girls."

I look at him for a second, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you put a lot of faith and time in them for everything to blow up in your face or to be taken advantage of."

"They don't…"

"Don't lie to yourself. They so do. You are just too nice of a person to notice it."

"Noel…"

"Seriously, Jessie. These girls have done nothing but get you into trouble since Mona took you. Why be loyal to people like that."

"I can't just turn my back on them."

He stops the car on the shoulder of the highway. Then he turns to me, "Yes, you can."

My mouth starts to drop a bit, "But…"

"Listen to me. You were hanging out with a girl who used to pick on you for a living, and they did nothing but criticise you for lashing out at her."

I look down at my hands, "I know." I don't know what else to say besides that.

He takes a breath, putting his hand under my chin and has me look at him. "You've always put those girls lives before your own. They don't appreciate it and they used to let her bother you once upon a time because they cared more about being popular than your friendship. Alison is going to turn them against you one day, do you want to risk that?"

"No, but you think dumping them now is going to lessen the blow?"

He nods, "I honestly do. you need to space yourself from them. I can't sit here and watch everything go down for you when Alison decides to switch sides and go back to who she was. Because we both know that now since she's back she'll try to run the town as if nothing has changed."

I think about this, because I know that he's right. I've had this all in the back of my mind since I found out she was alive. "What should I do?"

"First you tell them you're done with their bullshit. You stand up for yourself to Alison again for good measure, and then avoid them if you have to."

"I can't avoid my best friend. Aria's been in my life since the age of three. Plus I live with her."

"Well then it's time that you moved out."

My heart sinks, "What?"

"Leave, Jessie. You've lived with others long enough to save up. You've been working on the apartment."

"It's still not ready."

"It's ready enough to move in. Everything else is little details that can be done later."

My mouth drops a bit in shock, I can't believe he's asking me to do this. "Noel, I don't know if I can just bail on her in a time like this."

"Jessie." he positions himself in a way to look at me better, "There is always going to be a bad time to move out. It doesn't matter if she's going through a good or bad day, moving out in general isn't an easy task. But the fact that it's Aria you're worried about leaving, then you'd never get out. Because you know as well as I do that there will never be a decently good time to bring it up with her. Look at the past two years, when was the last time your life seemed normal with her in it?"

I take a deep breath, then shake my head. "I can't. I know I have to eventually, but not now. Not when Alison is back and her presence in basically threatening on making Aria back to being one of her sidekicks. I can't allow that to happen."

"So you're willing to basically put your life on hold to keep an eye on Alison so she doesn't ruin things?"

"If that's what it takes to keep her in check, then yea. I'm not going to have her come back to town after being gone for four years and act like she still has the tools to rule everyone in it. She needs to know that time has passed, that I'm not the same person she left behind being scared of her or thinking that I'll take her shit. I sure as hell will not give her that satisfaction."

He slowly nods, smiling a bit. "You really have changed, Brant. I think Alison was able to see that right away."

I slightly smile, "I think she did, she looked scared of me for once."

He laughs and then leans in, kissing me. "If you are going to put her in her place and don't want me to get on your back then you have to promise to come to the cabin with me."

I smile and nod, "Promise."

After awhile I finally check my text from earlier when Aunt Ella let me know that the cops found Aria and the girls. She left out the whole Alison being back thing for what I'm guessing is whenever I see her. I guess I'll have to practice my shocked face for that bombshell. So I answer her back, letting her know that I had been sleeping and in such a rush to get ready and head home that I forgot to answer. She wants me to head back to the house as soon as we get back in town.

I must admit that I'm so not in the mood to go back to the house. But at this point I rather not give the adults another heart attack on why I'm not home after everything they went through the night before. I can't believe that Aria put her parents through that. I can't believe that any of them put their families through that. They never told them that they were taking off after the wedding show, just vanished and had them all worried out of their minds the whole night. Had that been me, and my parents were still alive they would have killed me themselves.

When Noel gets to my house we talk for a bit, not wanting to go inside yet. The fact that the whole night was not a dream makes it all the more worse for me, because someone's dead and Alison is actually back in our lives now. I have no idea how to process this.

"You got this, okay?" he tells me when I let out my feelings towards what the future could look like with her back.

I half smile, "Hopefully."

He watches me for a few seconds and then kisses me goodbye. "Text me if you need anything."

I smile and nod, "For sure." I kiss him and then get out of the car.

As I walk inside I find the house empty. That is until I head upstairs and find Mike walking out of his room and sees me, "Bout time you got home."

"Hello to you too."

"Have you seen the news today?"

I act clueless and shake my head, "I've been in a car for, like, two hours, so no." I walk into my room and he follows.

"Aria disappeared last night."

"I know, your mom told me." I sit on my bed, "She also told me that she's okay."

"She may be okay, but she brought back a souvenir."

I raise an eyebrow, "Like a dog?"

He slightly smiles, "No. Like not so dead Alison DiLaurentis."

I put the most realistic shocked face I can get out. My mouth dropping and going speechless usually being my specialty of being taken off guard. "W-What?"

"Alison is _alive_ , Jessie. Somehow the cops found out that she wasn't the one they found last school year and the girls came home last night with her by their side."

"They...what?"

He nods, "Crazy right?"

"You're not kidding. Someone coming back from the dead isn't exactly normal."

He takes a breath, "Aria was at the police station with her last night, then they had to go back earlier today. We had all gone with her but I decided to leave 'cause I couldn't take being there anymore. Plus mom and dad wanted someone to be here when you got home. They stayed behind incase they are needed."

I nod a few times, "So...what's been going on?"

"The word around the station is that Alison had been kidnapped for the last four years and just escaped not too long ago."

Now I don't have to play stupid for this one. It's one thing that she came back home after having to leave because of a stalker, but it's another that she _lied_ to the cops about where she's been after having a solid reason all these years. What the hell is she doing? The girls better not have agreed to this one.

"She's...she's been _what_?"

"I know right? Everyone thought she was dead, but she was taken away from her home all this time. I can't imagine being in her shoes."

I can't seem to get my jaw off the floor from this bullshit of a story, "I don't even know what to say to that."

He sits beside me, "I don't think anyone does." He watches me for a few seconds, seeming to be thinking. "Are you going to be okay?"

I give a confused look, "About?"

"Alison. Her being back. I remember she gave you a hard time before you moved."

I take a deep breath and half smile, "I don't know. Figure that out if I see her."

I'm upstairs doing homework that is due tomorrow for awhile, trying not to think of what Mike told me. Then I decide to head over to the Brew to grab something to eat. I wind up bringing my homework with me incase I need the distraction. Turns out that I do, because everyone is talking about Alison being back.

I have my headphones connected to my laptop, listening to music while I type an essay. One side of the headphone behind my ear so that I can hear if a waiter walks over or something. Then all of a sudden it goes quiet, making me look up as whispers start to pick up now. To no surprise it's Aria and Spencer who walk in, Aunt Ella and Veronica right behind them.

I put the other side of my headphones over my ear as soon as the girls notice me. Aunt Ella then sees me, giving a smile and wave as both adults go to the counter. Then the girls walk over. At first I don't pay attention as they both sit beside me. Then I feel a hand rub my arm, so I slowly take off my headphones and close my laptop.

"What?" I say in an attitude, finally looking up at them.

Spencer looks taken back, while Aria's eyes are a little watery, "Don't do that." Aria shakes her head, "I can't have you mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?" I ask sarcastically, then laugh a bit hysterical. "I mean, you only _lied_ to the entire town about why Alison all of a sudden hasn't been dead all this time." the crowd in the Brew started talking again, so no one can hear our conversation.

They both give me a sad look, not seeming to know how to answer that.

"Yea, I've only been back for a few hours and I already know what you've done." I start to pack my stuff up, "Thanks for letting me know yourselves."

"It wasn't our idea." Spencer says.

"Of course it wasn't." I get up, "But yet you stupidly went with her dumbass plan. What are you doing?"

I start to walk to the front door as they follow me, "She needed our help." Aria whispers before we get to their moms.

"No, she's controlling you. The way she always has."

"Hey, Jessie." Aunt Ella says, "How was your night?"

I nod, smiling. "Great. Haven't been to the city in years, felt good to be back there."

She slightly smiles, "I guess you heard the news."

I nod, "First thing Mike told me when I saw him."

She slowly nods, "What about the other news?"

I raise my eyebrow in confusion, "What other news?"

She raises her left hand, showing me her fingers. For a second I don't get it, then my eyes widen in surprise. "Is that an engagement ring?"

She smiles, nodding. "Zack proposed."

I'm not really sure how to react as I try to keep my smile. Besides that this guy asked her to get married so quickly, it still hurts when I know she will never be back with Uncle Byron. But I try to sound as excited as possible as I hug and congratulate her.

Then after the excitement I let her know that I'm heading to the store and will be home by nine. I may be in a better mood, but seeing Aria and Spencer won't keep it that way.

The following morning I wake up before Aria. Why? Because she isn't going to school today. Even if she was I would have been up earlier, not wanting to risk her waking up first and having to talk to her. I'm so not in the mood for her today.

After that bit of an argument at the Brew the day before we kind of ignored each other whenever the adults or Mike weren't around. But once she woke up from a nightmare about killing Shana and seeming to be badly getting through it I tried to be there for her. But it turned into a fight when somehow it changed from trying to calm her down about that to her trying to convince me to bare with the decision to back Alison up. I've had enough with the excuses to help someone who is just using her, using _everyone_.

Once I get ready for school I head over and park my car in the parking lot across the street, then walk over to the Brew. To my surprise Mona is walking out of it and sits at one of the tables in front. Then more surprised when Lucas sees her and walks over towards her.

She spots me when I get closer and waves me over, asking me to sit.

"Mona." I say, sitting across from her as Lucas got up from the seat to let me sit down. Then smile at him, "Thanks."

"My pleasure."

I look at Mona as she smiles a bit awkwardly at me, "How you holding up?" she asks.

I just shrug, "Honestly, I haven't decided yet."

We are quiet for a few seconds, "Did you think about what I said the other night? About trying to stick together towards Alison."

I look up at Lucas, who slightly smiles. "You think this is smart?"

He slowly nods, "I think it's better than doing nothing."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, "So, have you?" She asks again.

I slowly nod, "I have."

"And?"

"And...I don't know how much involvement with Alison I want to be in. I mean, it's bad enough the girls are trying to convince me she's changed because they'd like for me to get along with her, but to purposely go full out crazy on someone who picked on me is just as insane."

She half smiles, "It's just to scare her off, Jessie."

"We aren't going to actually do anything." Lucas adds.

Mona nods, "Exactly. We just need to make her see that her being gone has changed all of what she considered her punching bags."

I take a breath, "Maybe."

"Jessie, don't you want her to know that you aren't scared of her anymore?" Mona continues, "To show her that just because she walks back into this town it doesn't mean that we are going to bow down to her or make it seem like she can still push us around."

"Yes."

"Then what's the hesitation?"

"That if it doesn't work I'll just end up back on her list."

"If she is who she has always been then you will be on her list no matter what."

Then as if someone sent him to my rescue Mike walks over and distracts her. This is my cue to get up and head to school, Lucas right behind me.

"Since when are you and Mona on the same page?" I look up at him when he gets beside me.

He's staring down at his feet as he says, "Since we realized that we have a bigger common enemy than popularity status."


	61. Chapter 61

**Hello guys, here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Pretty Little Liars belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **I do not take credit for anything.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

I wish I could have turned more than my brain off while at school. Not only was it going crazy with the constant image of seeing what happened to Shana, but all day I've been getting text after text after text from all four girls. None of them came to school so I guess bugging me was their way of not being bored. All of them kept asking me to get back to them as soon as I was able to, but I never did. They even try to call me on my lunch break, but I ignored their calls too.

If I wasn't afraid of my aunt and uncle not being able to keep in touch with me after what Aria put them through then I'd have shut off my phone. I mean, I have no idea what to say to these girls and I don't know if I want to hear what they need to tell me. Whatever it is, they seem to be desperate for me to hear it, but I can't deal with them right now.

What I do decide to do on my lunch break though is call Caleb. He hasn't come back from Ravenswood, and its worrying me a bit that he just picked up and left without an excuse. Not even a reason to why him and Hanna broke up, 'cause even she never explained.

"So Ali is back?" He asks after catching up a bit, no luck on seeing when he's coming back or why he won't.

I nod to myself as I take a bite out of my sandwich, "See the excitement you're missing."

He laughs a bit, "I think I rather not be in a place that Alison DiLaurentis is."

I'm quiet for a few seconds, "I'm starting to see the old personalities of the girls kick in."

"What do you mean?"

"The way they used to be before she disappeared. I can't handle that again."

"You need to straighten them out. That's all."

"They won't listen to me, Caleb. I'm running out of options. Needing a break, space."

"I understand that. If you need the time to figure things out then do it. Don't revolve your life around them. I think in a way that's why I left."

I take a deep breath, "Noel thinks I should move out of Aria's to avoid everything, thinks it'll be easier." Normally I'd have conversations like this with Toby, but he's been out of the country since Spencer checked into that rehab and can't be reached.

"Noel?" He asks confused.

"Oh...uh. Well...we have kind of been seeing each other."

He laughs in an amused way, "That must have been a field day for the girls to find out."

"Oh you have no idea."

"Well I'm happy that you were able to move on after Blake."

"Thanks." I get quiet, "What do you think about moving out?"

"I think you have to do what is right for you. Not do what others thinks is the right move."

As I'm heading to class after lunch I run into someone...literally. I was turning a corner at the same time this person was and we bump into each other. I stumbled back, catching my footing before I can fall while their papers scatter onto the floor.

"Sorry!" I practically yell, making people look over at us. I look up and notice who it is, "Mr. Brooks."

He slightly smiles as he bends down, "My fault. I was trying to grade papers as I walked."

I bend down and help him, "It's okay."

He smiles, "How are you?"

I slowly nod, as we stand. "Good...great." I look away and then say, "I have to go." I still feel weird talking to him when he isn't my teacher or coach anymore.

He nods, "Yea, bell's about to ring."

"Right." I get around him and then look back when he calls my name.

"I figured out what Hogwarts House you'd be in if that world was real."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, because of how random that was. He promised to set one for me and Aria last year, but he never did. "Yea?"

He nods, "You're loyal. So definitely a Hufflepuff."

I slightly smile, realizing how fitting that seems to be. "Sounds about right. But yellow and black (themed colors for said house) has never been my thing."

He laughs, "Matters not of the color, but what you bring to the house itself."

I laugh, "Sounds like something Dumbledore would say."

"Wise beyond my years I guess."

I smile and then walk away, "See you around, Mr. Brooks."

"Coach." He says as I turn back to look at him, "You can still call me Coach."

The only class that finally calms me down is ceramics. Andrew talks to me about anything but Alison, because he knows my backstory with her, and Annabeth gets me interested in different backgrounds of art pieces she's seen around the world whenever her parents had business trips. I appreciate both of their efforts for sure, because almost everyone looks at me whenever they see me since I'm friends with the girls and I needed the distraction. I'm so tired of being looked at like a weirdo whenever they get themselves into trouble.

"Mate." I turn to the side, Annabeth catching me at my locker after school, "Fancy hanging out later?"

I half smile, the accent has finally settled in for me to understand after being around her for awhile. "What did you have in mind?"

"My mum needs some help packing some artwork into her car to take into Philadelphia for a show. My dad is out of town and my brother dorms at the University."

I've gotten used to her weird way of talking. Instead of just saying her brother is at school or in college, she says university.

I think about this for a few seconds as I trade in books from my locker to my backpack. "Sure. Better than having nothing to do."

She smiles, "Fantastic."

Annabeth's house just so happens to be next door to Mona's, which happens to be not too far down from Alison and Spencer's house. This block has been barricaded since Alison got home, scared that her "kidnapper" will be back for her. So when I drive up to the cop she has to make sure they know that she lives on this block.

Once I'm done helping out I walk over to my car and see Em walking to Alison's house. She seems to notice me right away when she looks down the street and starts to walk my way. When I get to my car and try to open it she slams it shut, seeming to be pissed.

I look up at her, debating if I want to say something. "Move, Em."

"Not till you tell me why you haven't talked to me since we got back."

I feel a nudge of something that hits my leg, making me jump. When I look down I notice it's a dog, and Emily is holding the leash. "Whose dog is that?"

She looks down at it and then stares back at me, "Mrs. D adopted him. Ali asked me to walk him."

"Oh." I think about this for a few seconds, because Alison's mom has been missing since the night of the wedding runway show after she was questioned about Alison.

"So are you going to tell me why you aren't talking to me, to us?"

"I've talked to Spencer and Aria."

She laughs in a mocking way, "I heard about your little "talk" with them. Practically blaming us for what happen."

I bite my tongue, trying not to lose my temper. "I'm not in the mood to argue with you."

"Well you better be in the mood to listen to me."

"Why are you so upset? _I'm_ the one who walked into town yesterday and got blind-sighted by the fact you guys allowed Alison to make up some story about being kidnapped. It was bad enough that I was going to play dumb about knowing she was back."

"We didn't _allow_ her to do anything. She said it without us knowing, and then had to go along with it."

"No, you didn't."

She takes a deep breath, "We did. And if you would have answered any of our texts or calls you'd know it was because someone text her anonymously about not spilling what happened or she'd really disappear. She was scared."

I take a few deep breaths, "I don't really care, Em. Don't expect me to risk my neck for someone who hated me."

"I wasn't going to." then she looks at me in confusion, "So then what do you call New York? You helped her from dying."

"No, I helped _you_ _three_ from dying. I wasn't there to help her." I take a deep breath, "But now that you're hiding the truth you can't tell anyone about Shana. Which is fucked up."

"We had no choice."

"If you stopped letting her call the shots you would."

She watches me for a few seconds and then moves aside so that I can get to the car door, "You better at least be there for Aria, because she is freaked about Shana."

She completely changes the subject, but it gets my attention, "How freaked?"

"Terrified that _A_ is going to rat on her freaked."

I give a confused look, "What? Shana was _A_ , and she's dead."

"And this is why you need to answer your phone." she starts to walk away.

"What the hell does that mean?"

She turns around to me, "It means that when she found out that this random person text Alison she thought that Shana wasn't _A_." then she turns around and leaves.

I guess I should have taken that seriously, because as soon as I get home Aria is in our room dazed out. She looks like she has seen a ghost. I do my best to talk to her, but she is barely even listening to me. Then she gets this crazy idea about wanting to tell the police what she did.

"Are you nuts? You guys lied to the cops, you'll get in serious trouble now."

She shakes her head, "I won't give anyone the satisfaction of telling them before I do." she looks at her phone as it rings.

"No one is going to do that." I watch her get up and walk to the door. "Where are you going?"

"To Spencer's. Everyone is over there for a meeting. I'll tell them my plan then."

"Ria."

She turns to me from the door, "Are you coming or not?"

I think for a few seconds, then suck up my anger and follow her out the door. I want to make sure her head is leveled enough to handle whatever it is that the girls are going to ambush her with now. You'd think with everything that's happened and her trying to cope with what she did they'd give it a freaking rest. So I drive us to Spencer's, but when we get there the only ones in the house are Em and Hanna. Spencer went to go get Alison. Great.

As soon as we get into the house they tell us that they followed Jason to Philly because he seemed super sketchy when they saw him at Alison's. To them, everyone seems sketchy. I don't get why they don't just let this go, they are just digging themselves deeper into trouble for lying.

The rest of their conversation I block out, because whatever it is about has to do with details that they found out from Alison on the day she disappeared. I don't know everything, but I'm fine with that. I'm not up to knowing more than I need to.

I check back in though when Aria goes crazy about turning herself in. They do the same thing I did, try to calm her down. But she starts going on about how Mona knew they were in New York because she pretty much told her so, mentioning Ezra, and thinks she knows about Shana too.

"Aria, stop. Mona doesn't know about Shana." Emily tells her.

"Then who does?" Aria asks, "Who? Who is screwing with me."

"Why would Mona mess with you?" I say, "She's changed her attitude since she dated Mike."

They all look at me, "Since when have you been on the Mona train?" Emily asks a little confused.

"Since she decided that liking Noel was more important." Hanna gets out a little angrily.

"Oh for freaking sake." I say, "Drop it, will you?"

"Not till you drop Noel."

"I'm not dropping Noel. And if you guys would get to know him or even talk to Mona, you would notice that he is a nice guy and that she actually isn't the same person she was last year."

"Back in Rosewood for a day in a half and all of a sudden you're on good terms with all the crazy people." Hanna adds.

I half laugh, shaking my head. "You know what. I don't know why I thought I could be around you guys after Alison came back."

"Stop!" Aria yells, making us all look at her. "What about _A_? You keep telling me that _A_ is dead."

" _A_ is dead, Aria!" Hanna half yells at her, trying to convince her.

"Then why am I hearing a violin in my backyard. Who's the fiddler on my freakin roof?" she looks so scared that it kind of hurts to watch.

"Okay, Aria, listen to us." Em tells her as she grabs onto her shoulders to relax her. "Jason was the one in New York. Once we can prove that he's the threat that made Ali tell that kidnapping lie…"

Clearly since I checked out of their convo I have no idea why they think that Jason was in New York. So I'm for sure confused, but I really don't care at this point.

"Wait.." Hanna gets out, "How are we doing that?"

"I don't know." Emily yells in frustration, "That's why we are having a meeting."

I take a deep breath as Emily continues her little speech about finding evidence to clear Alison about lying. But I've had enough as I go to the back door. "Have fun with that." I open the door, "Because I'm done."

"Jessie." I hear Aria say from behind me, but I don't pay attention as I take off into the backyard.

As soon as I step foot into Spencer's backyard I notice Alison's dog sniffing around. "Hey, buddy." I walk over to it and go to pet him, but then he starts to bark at the spot it was sniffing. "Whoa, shh. You're going to wake up the whole neighborhood."

"Pepe." Em's voice comes from when she walks outside. "Pepe. what's wrong?"

I raise my eyebrow at her when I turn around, "That's the dog's name?"

She gives me a look as she gets closer to it, the other two right behind her. Then Em freaks out and starts to scream, falling back into the girl's arms.

Her scream makes me jump so bad that I almost trip over my own feet when I back up. Then I notice why she screamed, there's a freaking _hand_ sticking out of the ground.

I think I'm going to be sick.


	62. Chapter 62

**Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **I do no own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

The person we found that night in Spencer's backyard was Jessica DiLaurentis's dead body. No one knows who buried her to cover up this murder (like we need more of those in this town), but the cops do know that it happened the same night the girls picked up and left. The image of seeing her hand out of the ground is still etched in my brain. There's no way to get rid of a memory like that.

I over heard bits and pieces of the girls talking while at Spencer's that night. That Mrs. D got buried the same way Alison did. Apparently that is part of her story, that someone hurt her and her mom saw who it was. Thinking she was dead she buried her... _alive_. The only person they can think of that her mom would sacrifice Alison for is her child, hence why they pointed fingers at Jason. At this point though I don't really care to know more then that. So if they are gonna start their usual detective work to get to the bottom of it then they are on their own.

For the funeral I don't go. I don't know the family well enough to, plus I don't feel like supporting Alison. Yes, call me mean, call me selfish. But can you really blame me?

So instead I go to the cabin with Noel like I said I would. It will definitely keep my mind off of what happened and it's better to stay out of Rosewood for the weekend. Because it's weird now, especially school. Being around the girls is even weirder than just being _stared_ at.

In the matter of time since the body was found till now I have barely said a word to the girls. Sharing a room with Aria for the rest of the week made it even more awkward, but I did my best to play nice. If she had meltdowns about Shana I comforted her, but other than that we didn't see much of each other. She was too busy worrying about Alison, which goes for the others as well.

Noel ended up also inviting Sean and Piper to the cabin, while his brother invited a good amount of his pals. This makes me uncomfortable having to hang with college kids, but hey, gotta get used to it right? Gonna be college bound myself next year.

"All good?" Noel asks when we get to the cabin and grabs my bag from the back of his car for me.

I half smile and nod, "For sure."

He senses something is wrong as he grabs my hand and pulls me towards him. "I know seeing that body was a horrible sight to see, and knowing that your friends have chosen Alison over you is even harder to grasp. But please put that beautiful smile on for me and try to have a good time."

Good time is definitely an understatement. The place is pretty crazy, like full on college party crazy. Whether a party was the plan or not, it sure as hell happened. The older kids are so drunk that they can barely walk, some of them can't even hold down their liquor. There is even some hook ups that should not have happened in public. Then Noel manages to pass out on me at one point and I just take care of him while everyone else is drinking themselves to death. I may barely sober enough to look after him, but at least _I_ know left from right.

"Come on, dance with me." Noel asks on the last day we are here.

It's five in the afternoon, music blasting all around us. We plan to leave in a couple hours and try to stay sober to drive back to Rosewood.

I smile at him as he links his fingers between both of mine and swings our arms back and forth, "I hate dancing."

He grabs onto my waist with one of his hands and pulls me to him, putting his hands around my back and linking his fingers together behind me as he looks down, "But you like me, soooo…." he kisses me, "Yes?"

I laugh, kissing him back. "You are too much."

"It's a gift."

Monday comes and this is the first time that the girls (not including Alison) are heading back to school. I make sure though that I'm out of the house as soon as I'm ready, not even waiting for Aria.

As soon as I walk in Mona spots me, walking over. "Sign?" she hands me a forearmed length card. "It's for Mr. Fitz, he's back in Rosewood."

My heart sinks as I look back at her, "He is?"

She nods, "I'm sorry that he got hurt."

"Yea...me too." I think back to Aria saying that Mona knew something as I decide to play nice and sign it. "Mona?"

She grabs her phone as I'm signing the card. "Hm?"

"Did you know that we were in New York?"

She looks up from her phone, her face dropping a bit. Then gives a bit of a sad smile, "Yea, Noel told me."

"So then why make it seem like you didn't know when you called me? Why ask about banning together when you knew I may have been helping out?"

She half smiles, shaking her head. "Jessie, I know for a fact that helping Alison come home was not your idea. I just wanted to give you an option to keep her away."

I give her back the signed card, "I don't think it's going to work."

"Don't knock it till we try."

I slightly smile, "We'll see if she comes back to school."

She starts to walk away, brushing her hand against my arm as she does. "She won't be able to resist making a grand entrance. She'll be here soon enough."

I watch her take off down the hallway, "That is not making me feel any better, Mona!"

School is definitely weird, especially since I have classes with the girls. I try my best to play nice with them, answer if they ask basic questions or start a regular conversation. But they could hardly go more than five minutes before bringing up Alison again. How they are scared that her lie will be found out, and Aria is beyond scared that she will be caught for Shana's murder. If they stuck to the plan to tell whatever it is that Alison told them that night about why she left then they could have come clean about what happened in New York and said killing Shana was self defense since she was the one after them all this time.

So eventually I'd go without paying much mind to them, which they seemed to pick on quickly. But luckily they didn't bother bringing it up.

"Lucas." I find him at his locker after school and go to him. It's weird seeing him back here. According to Hanna, Mona had such a grip on him while she was _A_ that when she came back to school from Radley he couldn't really handle it, so he left school for awhile.

He turns around and smiles, "Hey, what's going on."

I shake my head, watching him for a few seconds. He's changed a lot since he left. He's a bit taller, more muscle toned, cut his hair in a short more popular guy way, and has a shape up beard. Can't say he doesn't look good though.

"Not much." I lean sideways up against the locker next to his, crossing my arms over my chest. "I need a serious break from them." I nod over towards the girls at our locker section, they are all in a deep convo.

He slightly laughs, "Driving you crazy?"

"It's beyond that at this point. All they talk about is her being back. How "different" she is. Do they realize how _not_ so different life is going to be when she decides not to hide out in her house anymore?"

He nods a few times, "Well then you need to make sure that you find a way to keep away from their drama this time around." he closes his locker, "This is why I'm agreeing with Mona for once."

"About the group?" he nods and I give him a look, "But doing what she is suggesting is going to _make_ drama. I think it's easier to avoid Alison all together."

"You think that's going to work?"

I take a breath, "If Alison is who we all feel she will be then it's not going to make a difference if we stick together as "former losers". She has her old friends back now, that will be enough to make her comfortable."

He shrugs, "I don't know what else to do at this point but to try and make the best of a bad situation by making sure I'm protected."

"This group isn't going to protect you for long if Alison gets her confidence back, Lucas."

"How do you know that?"

"Because it's _Alison_."

"Mona has it under control."

"Mona _became_ Alison. Do you not remember how _she_ treated you?"

He takes a deep breath, "She's tougher than she used to be." he pretty much ignores what I said, "She isn't the same person that Alison used to pick on four years ago, Jessie."

"And _you_ aren't the same Lucas. Even I'm not the same Jessie from six years ago. Not even the same from a _couple_ years ago. But I know better then to try and mess with her. Especially on purpose."

"Then don't join. No one is asking you to do this if you don't want to."

"I'm pretty sure Mona is."

"She's not." he shakes his head, "She was just hoping for the support, because the more the better. But it's fine. Honest."

After this conversation of not convincing him, I decide to head over to the store. But I don't make it inside as I'm ambushed in front by the girls. They seem to be a bit determined about something.

"Hi?" I start to unlock the door.

"Really?" Spencer says, "You've been distant all day, pretty much avoided us all week and all you have to say is _hi_."

I watch her for a second, "Nice to see you?" I say in an asshole way.

Her anger seems to be getting the better of her as she inhales deeply. "You are such a pain."

"If I'm such a pain then why are you here?"

"Because we are worried about you." Hanna says in her usual tone. Compared to Spencer and by the looks on their faces of the others she seems more level headed.

"Are you?" I ask in a sarcastic tone, "Good to know."

"What's that supposed to me?" Spencer says, her temper rising more.

"It means that ever since Alison got back into your lives you've all been by her side, doing whatever she wants like lost puppies. Which is exactly what I said would happen and you _all_ promised me you wouldn't let it."

"She's going through a rough time, Jessie." Emily says in a sad voice.

Before I can even answer that Hanna interrupts, "Jessie, where is your head at right now?"

I give a confused, "What?"

"Your thought process."

"About?"

"Ali. She's afraid you're going to spill about New York."

I give her a weird look, "Why would I do that? That puts me in risk of being part of something that you guys already kept me out of."

"Soo...?" Emily asks curiously.

"So my mouth is shut. Not getting myself involved anymore."

Their eyebrows go up, "What do you mean?" Aria asks.

"Exactly what I said the other night. I'm done. _Out_ of this freaking Alison bullshit." I say it loud enough that some of the people that are down by the Brew look our way.

Their faces completely drop. They seem to be so speechless that they don't know what to say.

"Are you serious?" Spencer asks.

"Dead serious."

She slightly smiles, not taking _me_ seriously. "You're always saying you're out of things when you aren't."

"I am this time. And you know why?"

They all look at each other and then back to me, waiting for more.

"Because I agreed to help with your _A_ problem. Guess what? _A's_ gone, Alison's back, and I'm out."

I open the door and go inside, all four of them right behind me. "But, Jessie." Aria says, a hint of sympathy in her voice. "We need you."

"No." I shake my head as I turn around, "You need my support, not me."

"That's not true." Hanna says.

"It is, and now that you have Alison back in your lives you'll remember why you never stuck up for me before I went to Jersey."

Their mouths drop a bit, speechless.

Before they can get anything out I add, "Oh, and I finally have the money to move into the apartment." I point upward, making the decision before I can change my mind. "So you'll be getting your room back to yourself." I walk away and head to my office.

"J-Jessie!" Aria yells at me, hurt in her voice. But I don't pay attention as I slam the door behind me.


	63. Chapter 63

**Hello everyone. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Please review, hope you enjoy.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Everything belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Noel and Toby help me move in some of my stuff into the apartment a couple days later. The talk with Uncle Byron about moving out was actually smoother than I thought it would be. He understands that I'm growing up and that Aria's room is too small for the both of us. Mike on the other hand was a little bummed out because he got so used to me being across the hall, but he got my reasoning eventually. Aunt Ella was a little scared because her not being around she depends on my uncle to watch over me. But she knows when I put my mind to something it's sometimes hard to change it. As for Aria, I figured she was going to be upset with me, so I was waiting for the cold shoulder. Instead, I haven't seen her once since I started packing this morning, which I have to admit wasn't surprising 'cause none of the girls have talked to me in the past two days. But it did feel a bit shitty, like how I felt from the Hastings all over again when I moved out of their house last year. No one but Spencer being there to say goodbye.

The long convo I had with Uncle Byron and Aunt Ella allowed me to figure out that I didn't have to get myself emancipated since I have their permission to leave. Without their okay I would have had to take legal actions, and it would have been a completely different conversation.

They agreed mostly because they want to see how well I do on my own incase I need to come back. It's easier than deciding if I want to do any legal stuff to detach myself from their family. Plus not only do I love that they are considered my legal parents, and me their daughter, but so do they. I wouldn't want to change that for the world. Also, it helps that I legally own the apartment since my parents owned the entire building and left it to me. Couldn't have been smoother.

But you know, once I figure out the whole "being an adult" thing I'll talk to them again about seeing if I can have legal rights over myself. Living on my own but still having to get permission from them to do something as simple as go on a school field trip? Seems like it'll be a little embarrassing.

"You have anymore liquor from your dad's stash?" Toby asks as he puts down the box with my TV on the floor.

I look over at him from setting another box on the kitchen counter. While he was in England he grew out his hair, having to constantly run his fingers through it to keep it back whenever it dangle over his face every time he bends down. I can't get used to seeing him this way, so it's weird to look at.

When he got home I didn't waste time to catch him up and talk with him about moving out and being with Noel. I figured since I can't be the one to spill about what the girls did and New York then I might as well tell him about these things. He supported my decision for both, and he honestly doesn't think Noel's a bad guy. Why are the girls the only ones so against him?

I smile, "Yea, but we can't drink until we get all the bigger stuff up here from storage."

He laughs, "Oh, fine." He walks over to the door, "I'll get the last two boxes and then lets go."

"Someone's anxious."

"Nope, just need some chill time."

I laugh, "That's my line."

"And I just borrowed it." he makes a goofy face.

I smile as he takes off and then Noel walks out from the bathroom, "This place is going to look great when you get everything settled in." he walks closer and grabs my back, pulling me closer so I have to look up.

I try to hide a smile as he continues to look at me, "See anything you like?"

He smiles, "Yea." he brushes his hand on my face, then leans down and kisses me, "I like the softness of your lips." he kisses one of my eyes, "The way your green eyes look into mine." he kisses my neck, and I giggle. "The way you laugh when I do that."

I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down to me, "I like the smooth way you talk." then I get on my toes and kiss him, longer than before as his tongue touches mine.

Once we get the sofa, my bedroom dresser, the stand for my parents flatscreen that I decided to bring with us for the living room, and some bookshelves from the storage into Toby's truck we head back to the apartment, sticking them where they need to go. I may still have most of my parent's and brother's things from the old house but I don't want to overwhelm a small two bedroom apartment with a lot of stuff. So for now I want to keep it simple, even buying an inflatable bed for the time being for the guest room.

Then when we are done we take off again real quick to get my bed from the Montgomery's. At one point I brought my own frame and mattress to put in her room so that it felt more comfortable and like something familiar from home.

When I get upstairs with the boys I'm shocked to see that Aria is sitting on my bed, making my heart sink. "Ria."

She slowly looks up at me, half smiling. "Hey."

"We'll be…" Noel starts, and I look around to him. He's tapping Toby's arm to get his attention but I can tell that he rather be yelling at Aria. He has the same look he always has whenever he sees _any_ of the girls.

"Outside." Toby finishes for him and heads out the door behind him.

It's quiet for a good minute, both of us looking at everything but each other. Then I walk closer and sit beside her. I keep my legs over the bed as I watch her wall, while she keeps her crisscrossed position on my bed.

I take a deep breath, "How are you?" I finally turn to her.

She slowly nods, seeming like she's trying to hold back tears. "Okay. You?"

"Alright."

It gets quiet again, then she says. "I'm sorry." she takes a deep breath, "For always choosing her over you."

"It doesn't matter anymore. You made your decision, stick with it if you feel you need to."

"I do." She doesn't sound convinced as she looks away from me for a few seconds, then stares back at me. "But I don't want you to feel like I abandoned you."

"Look." I take a few deep breaths, "I know it's been a long time since she's been around and you feel like you need to be there, but she put you all in a seriously bad situation."

She nods, "I know, but it's too late to back out now."

"Not if you save yourself and tell the cops you lied because you were afraid of her."

"What?"

"Aria, she's controlling you. She's _using_ you. If she ever wants to get out of this mess she could even turn on you and make it seem like it was your idea because you wanted to keep Shana's death a secret." I take a deep breath, "For all we know she'll even go as far as to blame something on me because I'm not part of her inner circle and she can throw me under the bus if she feels cornered with no way out. Which I'm completely terrified of."

She shakes her head a few times, "I wouldn't let her do that."

I watch her for a few seconds. "Well I can't continue to back you and the girls up knowing that if she gets too familiar with being back here she could turn back into her old self."

"Jessie, she just lost her mom. I'm sure she isn't thinking about being mean to people. Plus you saw how she's changed."

I shake my head, "I saw what she wants us to see. Might of just been her way to suck us in. I'm sorry she lost her mom. I feel bad, I do, because I've been there. But we don't know what her being back here will do. She may be nice now, but later she could switch sides. I can't be apart of this."

She takes a deep breath and nods, "I get it."

I half smile, "I'll always be here if you need me, you're my best friend. But anything with Alison is off limits on my help."

She slowly nods, then says. "You know Ezra is back in town."

I position myself better on the bed, sticking my leg under the other. "I've heard."

"Have you seen him?"

I shake my head, "I'm afraid to."

She gives me a sad look, "Afraid, or because you can't forgive him."

I look away, "Both." then I look back to her, "You can't blame me for that."

She shakes her head, "I don't. He did a lot to bring down everyone's trust."

I watch her for a second, "You've seen him, haven't you?"

She looks down at her hands and then nods, "Just to let him know that we went along with the kidnap story so that he doesn't get taken off guard."

"What did he say?"

She looks back to me, "That if I wanted him to he'd be there for me. So he's going to act as if he never saw us in New York since we played it off that we found her in Philly." she takes a breath, "He knows you were there cuz he saw you in Noel's car when you dropped us off, but you're safe from harm. You know he'll always protect you."

I slowly nod, "Right." I look away, now staring at my hands. Even though we haven't talked and he knows I'm mad at him I know that it won't stop him from feeling responsible for me.

"And he thinks that Shana is still alive."

I shake my head a few times, "Do you see what Alison is doing?" I look at her, "She's digging everyone into a hole of lies."

"We are going to figure this out. I promise."

I shake my head, "Don't promise me that. If you don't have something to back up your claims, like her word on what really happened when she disappeared, then you have no way to fix this."

She stands up and heads to the door, making me know this convo is over. "I'll let you do what you came here to do. I'm going out. If you need me, don't hesitate to call." she turns away, then quickly looks back to me. "Go see Ezra, he needs a familiar face to confide in." then she leaves.

I'll tell you now that being by myself in the apartment tonight was not a normal feeling. Noel volunteered to stay with me, but I told him that I wanted to try to get used to being on my own for the first night at least. So here I lay in my own room, in my own place. No one else in the house and no one sharing this room with me.

Looking across the room to realize that Aria isn't there is a feeling that doesn't feel normal right now. Which makes it harder to sleep as I get up and head to the bathroom, then I go to the living room and walk out onto balcony when I'm done.

I take in the view of my new neighborhood as I look around. I forget how peaceful it can be around here. Then I look to the side and am surprised to see that Ezra's standing on his balcony from the complex building next door, the alleyway barely making space between us. I hadn't noticed that his specific apartment was right next door till now.

He turns away from looking down at the street, a coffee in one hand and a cane in the other. The mix of my living room light, his apartment light and the street lamps makes it easy to see that his face drops when he sees me. "Jessie?"

My heart races and my stomach drops, "Hey."

"What are you doing there at this time?"

"I uh...I moved in."

He raises his eyebrows, "Really?"

I slowly nod, "Took Alison coming back and feeling like Aria stabbed me in the back to finally get the courage to do it."

He slowly nods, "I uh...I heard that you're going with her lie too." he whispers, but it's loud enough for me to hear him.

I nod, "I also have to play dumb, because according to them I wasn't there either." I look down at the street, "Which I'm okay with, but that was when I thought they were telling the truth, not bullshitting it."

"She came over to see me."

"I know, Aria told me."

"No, not her...Alison."

My heart sinks, looking at him. "What?"

"She wanted to see how I was, seeing if I had anymore info that I didn't include in my book."

I slowly nod, "Oh."

He's quiet for a few seconds, "I'm sorry about what happened at the cabin, Jessie. About researching you and the girls without telling you, knowing Alison and not saying anything. Knowing who Aria was before I fell in love with her. For hurting and making you not trust me. If I could change what I did, I would."

I take a deep breath, turning away from him. "But you can't change it. And I can't say that I can forgive you for it."

He awkwardly coughs, making me look at him. I can tell he's upset, like he's trying to hold back his emotions. "I get it, and I don't hold that against you. But if you need anything you know where to find me."

I slowly nod, trying to smile. "I know." I get off from leaning on my balcony railing and turn to leave, but before I do I look at him. "I'm glad you are okay." then I walk inside and close the door, heading to bed.


	64. Chapter 64

**Alright everyone, here's another chapter.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Sara Shepard and Freeform own.**

* * *

Getting used to being in this place is definitely harder than I expected. All weekend I kind of hid from the world, no contact with anyone unless they did first. For the most part it was Noel or Toby, and of course my aunt and uncle. Because I either occupied myself in work, or hung out up in my apartment. _My_ apartment, how weird is that to say?

Noel tried to get me out of here to get some fresh air, but I was honestly not in the mood to go anywhere. As you know, my ways of coping is to drown myself in work, or to hide out in my room. In this case I didn't really need to hide out in my room since no one lives with me, but it was the same concept.

Monday morning I walk into school and head straight to my locker, slightly smiling at Aria standing at hers and barely glancing at Em who closes her locker and walks over to Aria. The only one out of the girls who has bothered to try and talk to me is Aria. But even with the mini conversations we had throughout the weekend to keep in contact and act normal didn't really feel the same.

Once I get everything I need I head down the hall and turn the corner. My plan was to head to the courtyard and just chill out for a bit, but before I can even reach it someone grabs onto my arm and pulls me into the computer lab.

I hear the click of the door closing, the room being semi dark 'cause the blinds are closed. My heart kind of races for a few seconds, because ever since being kidnapped things like being pulled away at rapid speed makes me get overwhelmed.

"It's just me." I hear Lucas's voice as he walks closer and stands beside me.

I look up and see him staring down at me, "What the hell." I take a breath, "You gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry." he looks at the window of the door, "I need to talk to you."

I fix my backpack on my shoulder, "Okay?"

"I think you were right about not doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Going with Mona's plan to scare Alison when she comes back to school."

I take a deep breath, "We don't _know_ if she's coming back to school, Lucas."

"She will. She won't want to sit at home forever."

"So what are you trying to tell me?"

"That having this group try to act and be who Alison was isn't the right move."

"Because it's going to backfire."

"No. Because she was kidnapped for four years. Doing this isn't going to help her get passed that. Maybe she's different."

I try to hold in a laugh at the fact that everyone believes she was kidnapped. Then I'm also trying not to blow up in anger from not only the fact that this lie has gotten so big, but because when I got taken from Mona most of the school was making fun of me about it. Just because she was popular doesn't mean she should get a slip of sympathy, especially not when she used to be a total bitch.

I watch him for a few seconds, "I agree that lashing out to scare her is a stupid idea. But to give her the benefit of the doubt that she may have changed I can not go with. To me she will always be the same person. You give her leeway and she won't hesitate to get comfortable in her old skin."

"Jessie…"

"I'm serious, Lucas. She's playing a game with _everyone_. And I am not believing that she's changed one bit."

His mouth is a bit open in shock, "I never thought you'd be the type of person to be unsympathetic to someone who has gone through the same things you have."

I give him a confused look, "She is nothing like me."

"She just lost her mom, you lost your family. You were both abducted. How is that not the same?"

I take a few deep breaths, "I had more people in this school taking it as a joke or being upset with me for what happened to Mona rather than feeling sorry that I went through hell. But Alison? She is gonna get glorified over it. Already is. That's the difference between us."

He gives me a sad look, "This town sucks. But we should give her a chance."

"Lucas. She put a lot of people through hell. Including _you_."

"I know, but…" I shake my head, making him stop what he was going to say. He probably knows that there is no reasoning with me at this point, so instead he gives me a sad look, "So basically you're saying that you don't want to be part of Mona's plan either, right?"

I slowly nod, "Right."

"Then that makes two of us."

Then the door opens up and Mona walks in. I'm completely confused, until I realize it's because Lucas probably wanted to have this same conversation with her. I don't need to be here for this so I take off, telling them both that I'll see them around.

After school Mona pops up at my locker, she looks a little ticked off about something. But she doesn't give me time to really ask what's going on, because her face alone scares the hell out of me. It's the same look she gave me when she was _A_ , which means she is beyond pissed right now.

"Did you talk Lucas out of joining my 'cause?"

I gulp a bit, trying not to look at Mona the same way I used to as my brain swarms with bad memories of her. "C-Can you please relax?"

My eyes are watering a little, which she seems to notice as the fire in her eyes disappears. "What's wrong?"

I slightly smile, "N-Nothing. I'm fine."

"No you're not."

I shake my head, trying to catch my breath. "It's just the look you were giving me."

Her eyes get sad, "You just had a flashback."

"What?" I try to laugh it off, "No, I'm fine."

"Jessie, I'm sorry. I try to act normal with you since we got on better terms, but I forget how much I can still affect you from what I did."

"It's okay. I'm okay, really." I take a deep breath, "What's going on?"

She watches me for a few seconds and then says, "Lucas. He's trying to bail out. Claims that he feels bad for Ali. You didn't put that in his head did you?"

I raise my eyebrow, "You're asking the person who hates her probably as much as you do if I tried to make Lucas _feel bad_ for a girl who downgraded not only him, but me too?"

She shrugs, "I know you don't like this idea, so I thought you were trying to keep him out of it. Especially since I saw you guys in the computer lab together when I walked in."

I shake my head, "Mona, I may not agree with your thought process but he can make his own decisions."

When I head down the hallway with Mona beside me the girls all turn to us. They have this look like they can't believe my new best friend is Mona. Of course she isn't my new best friend, but she's one of the only people I can count on who will back _me_ up instead of Alison. They shouldn't be surprised that us growing apart after her return would push me away to other people.

"So you're really not joining the group?" Mona asks me after we watch Hanna give a mean look.

She's probably reliving her days when her and Mona ruled the school. If the whole _A_ thing never happened they both would still be at the top. Which means Alison would have never come back. As much as I hated that side of Hanna, it would have been better than now.

I look down at her, "No. It doesn't feel right to me."

"And having Ali walk back into your life to pick on you is?"

I take a deep breath, "I guess I'm keeping hope that if she does come back she'll prove us all wrong."

A couple days later after school a knock comes to my door. I'm sitting on the sofa, doing homework and watching some TV. So I get up and walk to the door that would lead to the stairs to get down to the alleyway.

That's the only downside to this apartment. The main door is in the alley, which means if I don't use the store entrance at night I basically run the steps.

To my surprise when I open it I see that it's Aria, standing there with a worried look on her face. My heart sinks when I see her. It's a little hard to avoid her when she pops up at my place.

"Hey." she says in a low tone.

"H-Hey." I awkwardly look down at my feet, then back up to her. "Uh, what's going on?"

She shakes her head a few times, "Nothing. I just...I needed to talk to someone."

My heart is thumping hard against my chest, then I look behind me. I notice quickly that the apartment is kind of a mess from still organizing things. But I don't think that will matter.

"You want to come in?" I turn back to her.

She watches me for a second, "Can I?"

I nod, half smiling. "That's why I'm asking."

"Just thought you would want your space."

"Living by myself gives me enough space."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know." I move to the side, "Come in."

She walks inside and stands awkwardly between the living room and kitchen, seeming not to know what to do as I close the door. I walk over to the living room and she follows me as I ask if she wants anything to drink. She tells me no, so I turn off the TV and put all my homework onto the coffee table in front of us, then we sit down.

I turn to the side to look at her and stick my leg under the other. "What's wrong?"

"How are you?" she asks at the same time.

We both half smile, then I slowly nod, "Good….adjusting."

She nods herself, "I get it. Me too." She looks around, "Place looks good."

"Minus the mess."

She slightly smiles, then takes a deep breath, watching her hands. "I found a video on Shana's funeral."

My face drops in shock, "What?"

She doesn't look at me, "I've watched it over and over, her just laying motionless in that coffin."

I give her a confused look, "Why would you do that?"

She shakes her head, "I just...I can't get over what happened."

"Hey."

She slowly looks up at me, her eyes watering a bit.

"You need to relax."

She takes a breath, "How can I relax from this, Jessie? I killed someone."

"Out of self defense. You had a reason to do what you did."

"Then why do I feel so crappy?" She wipes away a tear that slides down her face.

"Because killing someone isn't easy, Aria." I give her a sad look, "And having someone make you hide it makes everything harder to deal with."

The fear on her face makes me get anxious and nervous as she looks away from me.

"This may not make you feel any better, but I feel partly responsible for her death too."

She looks up, giving me a weird look. "Why?"

I take a breath, "Because she tripped over me before she fell. I'm the one who really killed her."

She shakes her head, "I'm the one who hit her."

"How do we know that she wouldn't have stopped herself from falling over the edge though? How do we know that her bumping into me before hitting the floor wasn't the real reason she's dead?"

"Jessie, it wasn't. Don't blame yourself. It's not like you purposely stuck your legs out to trip her."

"Then why are you putting so much pressure on yourself when you didn't mean to kill her."

"Because I made the choice to hit her, that's why she's dead. Had I not made that choice she wouldn't have lost her footing."

We watch each other for awhile, not saying a word. Then I get out, "I guess we are both struggling."

"But at least you're getting sleep."

I laugh, "Is that what you think?"

"Jessie, I haven't seen you look so energized in I don't know how long. Clearly spacing yourself from us is doing something right."

I give her a sad look, "I didn't want to do this."

"I know. But I'm glad you did. You'll be safe."

I don't even know what to say to that. But before I can think about it she gets up, saying she needs to leave. She doesn't even give me the time to stop her before she's heading to the door, leaving with a sad goodbye. I guess things really have change.

The days come and go so quickly that I don't even notice it. What brings me back to reality is when I'm finally relaxed after running around at work one night and realize that the next morning I'm going to have to walk into school and feel scared for my life for the first time since Mona left Radley. Why? Because Alison decided to come back after all. Everyone warned me of course, but I hoped for the best. Well, my hope is over and school is going to suck.

To keep busy I head out to the balcony and rest my arms onto it. I look down at the sidewalk and from the lamps shining down I end up seeing Aria and Ezra taking a walk. Since when did they become all close again?

"This isn't about Shana." I hear Ezra's voice echo up to me as they stop. "This is about you doing this to yourself." Looks like she told him what happened. "Okay? I wish I could fix this for you."

She reaches up to his head and rubs his hair. The way she always used to when they were dating. What the hell is she doing?

I'm about to yell down to them when she pulls away from him and continues to walk down the block. It's bad enough that she screwed things up with our friendship and probably feels like he's the next best thing outside of the other girls, but to go back to him after what he's done isn't any better.

I watch them walk until they stop again. There's someone they are watching standing at a car for a few seconds until this person walks over, but I can't see who it is from here. They talk for awhile, then get sidetracked by a figure that came off the bus across the street. I can't see who that is either, but I don't care as I grab my cellphone from my pocket and dial Annabeth's number, heading inside.

"Ello?" her voice comes from the other end.

"Hey, what are you up to?"

"Not much. Just watching the telly."

I smile to myself at the way she said TV as telly, "Wanna meet up at school tomorrow morning?"

"Sure."

"Great."

She's quiet for a second, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"What happened to your mates? You guys kind of went silent on each other."

My heart sinks, "We just have different thoughts on a certain matter."

"Does this have anything to do with the rumors of this girl Alison coming back to school?"

I don't answer.

"I heard a lot of stories about her, Jessie. How she was the school bully, your mates were her sidekicks, and you were one of her "toys". Then she went missing for four years. Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Because it was a long time ago."

"And yet she is about to walk right back into your life tomorrow morning."

"It's gonna be fine."

"Will you be?"

I smile a bit to myself, "I'll be alright. Promise."


	65. Chapter 65

**Hey guys, here you go.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Let me know what you think!**

* * *

The next morning I dread getting out of bed, out of the house more like it. The thought of Alison coming to school makes me feel really sick. But I suck it up and skate over to school. Since I don't live far from it anymore I don't have to be taking my car. To my surprise, Annabeth comes skating down the block on her rollerblades sometime after I get there. This is the first time that I've actually met up with her at school, so I had no idea we were similar with this type of hobby too.

When she gets closer she stops, but not before she almost skates over my toes. "Whoa!" I jump back a bit.

She smiles at me, "Sorry." she unties her ponytail and runs her hand through her long dark red hair, resting it over one of her shoulders. Yea, I found myself another red head, not many of those in this town. "I always underestimate my speed." she adds as she bends down to take off her blades.

I stare down at her as she switches them for sneakers. "No problem. I didn't know you skate."

She clips together her skates with attachments and stands up, being a few centimeters shorter than me as she throws them over her shoulder. "There's a lot you don't know about me."

"Clearly." I smile.

"And there's a lot I don't know about you either. Finding out about Alison was a shock."

"If I told you my life story you'd be nothing but shocked."

"Jessie."

I turn to the side, seeing as Hanna, Emily and Spencer are walking over. Aria is fast pacing way behind them for some reason. This is the first time any of them besides Aria has reached out. Hanna was the one who called my name.

"We've been trying to call you. Today…"

"Alison is coming to school." they all look at me with a bit of scared looks, "I do have ears."

"Are you going to be okay?" Spencer asks, trying to sound as if our last argument didn't make a dent in our friendship.

"You care?" I say a bit sarcastically as Aria finally catches us.

Spencer gives me a sad look, "Of course I do."

"Could have fooled me."

"Jessie, come on." Emily gets in. "It's…"

"Complicated. Right?"

They all stare at each other, unsure how to answer that. But I already know that's what they are thinking.

I laugh, "Yea, I'm kind of sick of that excuse." I side look at Annabeth, who looks to be uncertain on how to react as she watches like we are a tennis match. "If you cared you wouldn't have ignored me and been all over Ali for a week." I turn back to them. "Aria is the only one who's seen me, or even _talked_ to me."

"It's not like you bothered to make contact either." Hanna gets in, a mix of seeming mad and sad.

I watch them all for a second, it's true I haven't but it doesn't mean they shouldn't have tried. "I gotta go. You guys have someone to bow down to." I don't give them time to react as I turn around and head up the steps, Annabeth right behind me.

Before we can fully get up the stairs though a commotion of people talking swarms us. I spot Mona and Lucas at the top of the staircase, looking down. That's when I turn around and notice that everyone is staring to the side. Alison is walking towards the school.

My breathing starts getting a little bit rapid as I watch the same blond with preppy clothes from my past get closer to the girls. It's not seeing her that scares me, because I've already witnessed her. It's the thought that she is back on her home turf and can pretty much slam me into a locker at any moment she wants. The thought that she can get someone bigger to stuff me into an abandoned area and beat me up makes me want to throw up. I thought I could handle seeing her here, but I'm realizing that my moment of braveness in New York was just the rush of adrenaline. I wasn't brave at all, I was hiding my true self, hoping that when she saw all the anger she'd think twice. But her being here makes it so much worse.

"Come on." Annabeth tells me, grabbing onto my arm and pulls me up the stairs.

The looks on Lucas and Mona's faces when they see me sets my anxiety off more. Because they look scared too, but are trying to keep their calm as they make eye contact with me. If even they are scared right now then I have no hope for myself.

Once Annabeth drags me to my locker she has me turn to her. I lean up against it and try to take deep breaths, this is not happening.

"Hey." she says, rubbing my arm. "You promised me you were going to be able to handle this."

I slowly look up at her from my feet "I thought I could."

"Don't let seeing her control your emotions. When Alison walks in you need to show her that she doesn't scare you."

"You have no idea what she's capable of. What she's done to me."

She nods, "I know. And I can't imagine how someone picks on one of the nicest people I know, but you are also brave. I know you can do this."

I take a deep breath, half smiling. "Thanks."

She nods, "Of course." she looks down the hall, "You want me to stay with you?"

I shake my head, noticing Noel coming over this way from the other side of the hallway. "I'm fine. Go to your locker."

She slightly smiles, rubbing my arm one last time in comfort and then walks away. So I turn around to my locker and open it, trying to make this day seem normal.

"Hey, babe." he kisses me on the head.

"Hey." I take deep breaths to calm down.

"She here yet?"

"Yep. Should be in this hallway any minute now."

"Are you okay?" he leans against Em's locker.

I look at him, "Does her being back in this school seem okay to you?"

He gives me a sad look, "I know. I'm sorry."

I close my eyes and inhale deeply, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be taking this out on you."

Then just like before, the entire hallway goes into a fit of talking, making me know why. But this time I don't bother to look as Noel turns away from me and stares. So I just keep busy with the books I'm trading in and out of my locker. Then as fast as I can I look up at him and ask if we can leave. He nods and grabs my hand, walking away from Alison and the girls.

The good news is that since Alison has missed so much school she won't be having any classes with me, or any seniors. She will definitely be put in freshmen classes. The only way I can figure that out since she missed all of eighth grade is that her dad somehow got the board to let her into high school earlier than she should be. Figures.

All day she had been at the guidance counselor's office, making up her schedule. So I was sure I wasn't going to see her, that is until I walk into the bathroom and see her walking out of one of the stalls before last period's about to end.

"Hey." she smiles, "Didn't get to see you today."

My heart sinks, but I do my best not to think about it as I feel like twelve year old me again. "That was the plan." I say in a not so nice way.

She gives me a sad look, "You're upset with me. About the story I told."

I go over to one of the stalls, "You're the one digging yourself into a hole. Why should I care." Then I close the stall door.

She doesn't say anything after that, seeming to sense my annoyance of her. That's when I see her feet leave from under the door and the sound of the water running. Then her footsteps and the door of the bathroom slamming behind her. I may have been pretty scared of her, but I'm decently proud that I could control my fear for the moment.

"How was school today with Alison in it?" Toby asks when he shows up at the store after school.

I look down at him from the ladder, "Not fun."

He hands me a box with a football in it, "Did she approach you?"

"Not purposely. I saw her before school and in the bathroom, but both times all the emotions of how she made me feel as a kid came rolling back."

"And you didn't tell anyone?"

"One of my friends was there the first time. She kept me calm enough to not totally freak out, but the thought of her being back makes my skin crawl."

"I can imagine."

I take a deep breath, "I thought I would be able to see her and be fine. But I felt just like I was at the age of twelve, panicked."

"It's the first time you've seen her in six years. It's understandable that you'd react that way. No one is expecting you to take it well on the first day."

That's a total lie, the girls sure as hell would have. I so wish I could tell him the truth. How I was in New York and almost pounded her from my anger. How I acted tough because I wanted her to see the new me. But I obviously can't tell him, and the fact that I buckled under the pressure today after being strong the last time completely sucks.

"You're still not talking to Spencer? Or the others?"

I look down at him, "Not till she, or they, give me a reason to."

"Jessie."

"I'm sorry, Tobs, but they picked Alison over me. They picked someone who harassed me multiple times and witnessed that bullying. They've barely given me the benefit of the doubt for my reasoning for backing away." I take a breath, "Except Aria, but even with trying to be on good terms it feels forced."

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to Spencer or the others."

"They haven't bothered to reach out. So I won't till I know they actually want to."

He gives me a sad look as he watched me climb down the ladder.

When I get to the bottom I look up at him, "So I heard that Jenna is back in town." I change the subject.

He slowly nods, "She found out that Shana got killed and needed some support from the family."

My heart sinks, "W-What?"

He takes a breath, "They were close even before she moved to New York. It hit her hard."

My face drops, "Jenna was living in New York?"

He nods, not noticing how I reacted because thankfully he looks down at his phone when it rang in his pocket. "Yea." he looks up, "I have to go."

I slightly smile, "Okay."

He leans down and hugs me, "Don't work too hard."

"I won't, if you cut your hair."

He laughs, "Hey, don't make fun."

I smile and walk him to the front door, changing the sign to closed.

Tonight Lucas is having a party at his place. Yea, sweet Lucas decided to have a full out party while his parents are out of town. At least he was cool with letting me invite Noel, which was great.

When he asked me to come over I didn't hesitate to say yes. But I did make sure I had a talk about why he changed his mind about Mona's point of view. Him and her were standing next to each other this morning for a reason. He clearly sided with her. He tells me it was a long talk of her trying to prove that Alison hasn't changed, that she's been lying about the kidnapping. He didn't go into detail, but I have a feeling whatever she had to convince him was legit.

Running into him at the party he tells me that his girlfriend is coming down from Philly and wants to introduce me to her. I had no idea he even had a girlfriend. But obviously him being home schooled for all this time makes little details like that unknown.

"You know Hanna came here with Travis." He tells me, taking a sip from his drink.

I raise an eyebrow, "Who's Travis?"

"Some guy from our grade. I think he was the one who helped Hanna's mom get out of jail."

"Oh. I didn't even know they were still in touch."

He points to the side, "I think they are more than in touch."

I turn to the side and see that they are kissing. Yep, that's new.

After about an hour of losing Noel to his friends he finds me."Come here." he throws away my empty cup and pulls me to him as he looks down at me, "You need to relax on the drinking."

I'm seeing a bit of double as I wrap my hands around the back of his neck and link my fingers together. "I'm fine."

He smiles, "The punch is majorly strong."

"I can handle it."

"I know you can. But you're drinking faster than you normally would. And I know it's because of her."

I roll my eyes, "I didn't come here to talk about Alison."

"And I didn't come here to see you get wasted to flush away your feelings from this morning."

I watch him for a second, then grab onto his hands. "Let's dance."

He gives me a look, "Now I _know_ you're drunk."

"And you're going to pass on the opportunity of getting me to dance because I'm too drunk to make the choice?"

He laughs then kisses me. "Not a chance."

"Good." I smile, "Then come on."

I drag him towards where everyone else is dancing, his fingers linked between mine. I turn my body around and rest my back to his body as he lays his chin onto my shoulder and wraps his arms around me from behind. He kisses my neck, making me get butterflies. I put my hand up and rest it onto the back of his head as we sway side to side to the music. Yes, you know I'm completely and massively out of it when I'm not only dancing, but dancing in this odd teenage way. I'm so going to regret drinking in the morning.


	66. Chapter 66

**Hey Liars! Hope everything is well. Here's another chapter for you.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit goes to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you all think.**

* * *

The next morning I walk into school decently functionable despite my little drinking fest last night. But I don't get far after my locker as I get pulled into the caf by Mona. Lucas and Paige are right with her. I have no idea what's up with them but they look pretty scared, which of course freaks me out because there is only one reason for it.

I notice that some of the other people Alison used to pick on are gathered around a couple tables. They all seem to be upset as they stare at Mona. I guess she is serious about being their leader.

"What's going…" I look at Mona and my face drops, "What happened to your face?" her cheek has a gash on it, still pink from being freshly made.

She lightly touches it with the tip of her finger, "Ali."

"What do you mean Ali?" my heart sinks, "Hold on...she _hit_ you?"

She slowly nods.

"Are you freaking kidding me. She's already starting to be her old self after a day of school?"

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about." Paige says.

I look at her, "I thought you didn't want to be involved in this?"

"I'm not, but this is something Mona thought everyone should know about."

"Ali is doing exactly what we thought she would." Mona adds.

"Being her old self." Lucas says, shaking his head. "I can't believe I wanted to give her a chance."

I shake my head, "I knew this was going to happen. That's why I didn't want anything to do with this."

Mona goes into her bag and pulls out her cell, then hands it to me. When I look at it she has a video on it, so I press play. It's showing her and Alison talking somewhere, then all of a sudden it shows Mona getting slapped across the face by Ali. It was clearly altered in some way, so what exactly provoked her to get to that point was a little alarming.

I slowly look up at Mona, "You ambushed her, didn't you?"

She takes a breath, "I just wanted to talk to her, that's all."

"And it led to her giving you that." I point to her face as I give her back the phone.

"Once a bully, always a bully."

I want to tell her differently since she has clearly changed from who she was last year, but when it comes to Alison I can't say I disagree.

I look at Paige and Lucas, who have sad looks on their faces as other people start to walk into the caf, making it get louder. That's when Paige pulls me aside.

"Have you talked Em out of being behind Alison yet?"

"Paige, I haven't exactly been seeing eye to eye with any of the girls much since she's been back."

"I know, but wouldn't they listen to you? You've been there for them since Mona was _A_."

I laugh, "Them, listen to me?"

She raises her eyebrows, "I don't get why that's funny."

"The girls don't listen to me...ever."

"That's not true."

"It is. They do what they want. I'm just their support system when things go wrong." I watch her for a second, "I'm guessing since you guys aren't dating anymore that she wouldn't listen to you either."

She slowly shakes her head, "She barely listened when we _were_ together."

Em and Paige broke up minutes before they went to New York. I don't know specifics of the breakup, but clearly Ali had a hold on Emily even before she was back in town.

I'm not able to continue this convo as her new teammate from swimming named Sydney walks over and starts to talk to her. That's when I'm about to head out, but then everyone goes silent and is looking at the entrance to the cafeteria. The girls and Alison are walking in.

Everyone that is near Mona turns around to them, seeming to try to act all tough. I just do my best to not catch attention to myself. As I've said a million times, I want nothing to do with Alison at this point. Getting myself thrown into a war between Mona's group and Ali's will not lessen the blow.

"What's going on?" Alison's strong familiar scary voice echoes. I so did not miss hearing that.

I watch all five girls standing there. Alison in the middle, just like she always was with the girls behind her. Hanna has a new style to her now shoulder length hair. There's some highlights of black under her blond that creeps out a bit to make it noticeable. Emily has that same protectiveness she always had whenever she thought someone was going to bother Alison. Spencer looks upset, but also like she doesn't want to start anything. Then Aria has a strong and mad look, like she wants to hit someone. But that goes away kind of quick when she spots me standing beside Paige when Lucas gets off from sitting on the table beside us.

"Some people really did hope you changed." Lucas tells her.

I shift my eyes back to Aria, her sad eyes visible through her tough act. She looks like she is disappointed in me, but who really cares what she thinks at this point. She's hanging out with Alison again as if nothing has changed. Not to mention she is clearly friends with Ezra again. If anyone should be disappointed it's me.

"We are not afraid of you, Mona." Spencer steps beside Ali.

"Afraid of me?" Mona says. She sounds like she can't believe Spencer just said that as she pushes between twins with glasses from her group and gets closer. "What lies has she told you?"

I'm starting to realize that the people on our side of the caf is getting bigger in size. It's like all of the "losers" came out for this. But then there are also other random kids popping in all around to listen. Clearly this has become a big thing.

"She attacked me last night." she brushes her hand against her scratch and starts to make a speech about how when Alison told her she threatened to make her disappear that she turned her phone on to record the conversation. That's when she passes it to Spencer and shows them what she showed me.

I can't take standing here anymore as I hear the video start. So I turn around and squeeze through Paige and Sydney. Once I get passed I head straight to the bathroom. I all of a sudden feel really overwhelmed and end up sliding down onto the floor up against the back wall, taking deep breaths as I shut my eyes. I need to wake up from this nightmare.

I gotta be sitting here for a good five minutes when the door swings open. I look up from my knees that I had hugged to my chest. To my luck, it's Alison.

Seeing her standing there sets my anxiety off a bit. My mind flashes to a memory from one of the days during the summer that I came back to visit after I moved.

 _I'm hanging with Aria on the front steps of her house, talking and catching up after being away for about a month now. Every time we came to visit we would stay at the Montgomery's place if we planned on spending the weekend here. That's when Alison pops up with the other girls, wanting Aria to hang with them. She of course says no since I'm limited on days, and I see as Alison's eyes flame in anger._

" _Jessie, sweetie. Can I speak with you for a second?"_

 _I side look at Aria, who smiles. For some reason she is oblivious to the fact that Alison isn't the nicest person and that she didn't do her normal call me Four Eyes. It's like they all rather see right through that and notice whenever she is nice, which is pretty rare. But to not start a complete argument I get up and follow her across the street._

 _I see that the other's are looking over here, but they don't seem to be afraid for me. Me on the other hand, I'm terrified._

" _What did I tell you about hanging out with my girls?" she has a smile on her face, playing an act as if we are having a normal convo. But her voice is noticeably mean._

 _I smile, slightly having to look up at her since she's taller. "You said I can whenever I have to, which in this case I do. Plus, I don't live here anymore, Alison. I can do whatever I want when I'm back."_

 _Her eyes flame a little in anger, "Is that what you think?"_

 _I nod, "You must have noticed that I'm not taking your crap when I was here for mine and Aria's birthday party last month."_

 _She grabs my hand, again playing an act for the girls. "Yes…" She squeezes a bit hard making me wince as her nails dig into my skin. "And as I said that time when I pulled you aside, I did not appreciate you talking back to me."_

 _I try my best not to pull my hand away from her's, "Tough. Because I don't care what you say anymore. You don't scare me."_

 _Her eyes shift up and looks behind me, which makes me turn around and my heart drops. The two older girls that beat me up are walking down the block in a fit of laughter with each other. They haven't seemed to see us just yet._

 _When I turn back to her she is staring back down to me. "Want me to make you regret talking to me like that?"_

 _I gulp so loud that I'm sure she heard me, "No."_

" _Good." she lets go of my hand. "Then don't make me repeat myself the next time I see you." then she walks away and leaves with the other girls except for Aria._

Coming back from the last memory I remember of her before she disappeared I watch as she jumps a bit, seeming like I took her off guard. "Jessie?" she says a little confused. "What's wrong?"

I slowly lower my legs, "Nothing." I get to my feet.

"Being curled up like that doesn't usually mean nothing " she walks closer and I hold myself together as I straighten up to make myself look confident, "Talk to me."

I try hard not to laugh, but then a little one comes out in disbelief."Talk to you?"

She raises her eyebrows, "Yes."

"Do you see who you are talking to?"

"I'm talking to you. I don't get what you're getting at."

"That the Queen Bee herself is asking her personal Four Eyed punching bag to talk to her."

Her eyes sadden, "Jessie, I've already told you. I'm not the same person I was when you knew me."

"Tell Mona's face that."

"She hit me first, Jessie."

I watch her for a second, her face not changing expressions. She's always been a good liar, so I can't tell if I've really lost my touch or if she's telling the truth for once.

I take a deep breath, "Doesn't change how I feel about you."

"I…" she tries to say something but the bathroom door swings open, the other four walking inside.

"I gotta go." I get around Ali and try to get passed them all without making eye contact.

None of them say a word to me. They either know better then to try and talk to me, or are too surprised that I was talking to her. But just as the door is closing behind me I hear, "What did you say to her?" from Spencer in a kind of pissed way. I guess she does care.

By the time night comes I'm so stressed out that I just lay on my side in my bed with Noel's arms wrapped around me from behind. I'm blankly staring at the other end of the room, semi dark as the light from the hallway comes through. He refused to let me sleep by myself tonight from how distracted I had been all day. I love that I can count on a guy who understands me again.

"You awake?" he whispers to me, his chin resting on my head.

"Mhm." I get out half heartedly.

"Wanna talk about it?"

I take a deep breath, "Not really."

"Babe." he shifts his body and slowly turns me to him.

I roll all the way around and look at him as he slips his fingers between mine. "She's getting to you."

I half smile, "Nah. She's way beneath me."

"Jessie."

My eyes sadden a bit, "Fine. Yea, she's getting to me."

He rubs my cheek with his free hand and kisses me on the forehead, making me close my eyes to the touch of his warm and soft lips."Don't let her get into your head. She's part of your past. She doesn't have to be in your future too."

I slightly smile, getting closer to him to rest my head on his chest and I feel him dake a deep breath as his whole body moves in response. "I'm trying not to."

He wraps his arms around me, resting his head onto mine. "I'm here whenever you need someone to lean on when things are too much for you to handle."

"I know." I close my eyes, falling asleep almost at once.

Once I'm asleep I have my first nightmare in awhile. Even my first nightmare that includes Alison. She is just standing in front of me with a smile on her face, the girls are right with her. From my view it looks like I am laying on the floor as they all point and laugh at me. This isn't a flashback, but it is a dream as if it would happen in present time.

 _"Loser!" Aria yells, cracking up._

 _"You thought you were really our friend?" Spencer says next, looking at Aria who nods in agreement._

 _"You should have listened to me Four Eyes." Alison gets in._

 _All of their laughs are echoing around us, they look so evil that I don't know who they are anymore._

 _"Lets ditch this Four Eyed freak and bother someone more fun." Hanna says._

 _"I helped you!" I yell at them as they start to walk away, "I defended you!"_

 _"Should always make sure you know who your friends are before putting your heart into them Four Eyes. They always do what I say." She looks at all of them, "Don't you girls?"_

 _They all nod, smiling at me. "Anything for you, Ali." Emily says in a dreamy voice, her clear crush on Alison showing._

 _When I turn to Alison, all of a sudden she is wearing a black hoodie and has an evil smile on her face. Then she rushes towards me and everything goes dark._


	67. Chapter 67

**Alright everyone, here's another one for you.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review and hope you enjoy.**

* * *

There's a lot of commotion since Alison came back to school. From trying to make everyone feel sorry for her to the police finding out that the person buried as Alison is named Bethany Young. This girl had been a runaway that escaped from Radley the same night Ali went missing. Then something as horrible as the Cavanaugh's house exploding from what they think was a gas leak makes the list of chaos. Even Caleb has been back in town and has tried to keep in touch. But there's something different about him. He seems really sad and just not like himself anymore, but he won't open up. Why would he ever come back to this town shocks the hell out of me.

All that seemed like a great experience to be around (sarcasm) but I'm not sorry for bailing on them when it comes to Alison fiascos. Spencer and the girls have given me more attempts to have conversations by phone and even at school, but with all the small talk I feel like it's just pity to have me not be mad at them. I play nice though, because I rather not hold a total grudge against them, makes life less drama.

Toby got a little upset with me at one point when he finally found out about New York, wondering why I didn't tell him. But he couldn't be mad at me for long on keeping my word to not spill, and for being scared of the cops finding out I was involved more.

With all this I managed to keep myself out of all of it, and none of the girls bothered to involve me in anything, which was great news for me. For the most part I've just been keeping myself busy by working. A few times Mike passed around and hung out with me, but with Alison back in town I try to be nowhere near where she would be. That includes bumping into the girls outside of school and making sure I go places outside of town.

So as if I needed someone to bother me while I'm in the middle of trying to organize the store on a slow day I hear the ding of the door opening. I walk out from the back of the store and head out to greet whoever it is and see Hanna. I knew it was too good to be true that I could last without seeing one of them out of school.

She looks a little upset as she comes over to the counter, "Hey."

I watch her in confusion for a few seconds, "What's up." I look down at the counter and set a few things onto it to put on the shelves later.

"I need your help."

"If it has to do with Alison, the answer is no."

"Jessie...I hate her being back."

My mouth slowly drops as I look back at her, "Seriously?"

She slowly nods, "She called me Hefty Hanna when we were kids, and even though I'm not anymore I feel like that same girl."

I look her up and down, "Is this why you made yourself over?"

Not only does she have the black strips between her blond hair, but her wardrobe is a bit different too. She isn't dressing all girly anymore. She is dressing more rebel like, I guess you can say. Darker clothing, darker attitude.

She nods, inhaling a bit. "Ali wants to leave. She's afraid that now since _A_ is back they will be after her again."

My heart sinks, " _A_?"

Her face goes into shocked mode. "D-Didn't Aria tell you?"

I slowly shake my head, "N-No. I haven't really been in much contact with her recently."

I can see all over her face that she regrets saying what she did. "Nevermind." she starts to back up, "I'm not getting you involved."

"But…"

"No, you've done your part. You've risked way too much already."

"Hanna!" but too late, she's out the door before I can stop her.

Later on, Detective Holbrook passes by the store with his partner Lieutenant Tanner to ask me questions about Ali since I was friends with the girls, wanting to see if I saw anything different about their behavior. I told them that I hadn't hung around them much lately because I moved out and that since I was never close to Alison I spaced myself from them. Luckily they didn't find this suspicious from my view. Just a normal reaction.

The next day at school I'm heading down to the first floor with Mona. We are talking about how someone left a dead rat in Paige's swim cap during her practice the day before. How creepy is that?

Just as we hit the bottom step Em walks over our way with Sydney behind her. "What do you know about this?" she's looking at Mona as she asks.

Mona gives me a weird look then stares back at her, "You are going to have to give me a hint."

"What happened to Paige."

Mona's eyes bug out in realization, "Oh the rat. Ugh, God. It makes me urk just to think about it." she looks at Sydney and smiles, "Hey, Sydney."

She smiles back, "Hey."

Mona turns back to Em, "Such a creepy thing to do to someone as sweet as Paige."

"Like having a spider crawl up someone's leg is any less creepy." Emily gets in, as if trying to make a point. "Right, Jessie?"

My heat sinks, the memory swarming my brain.

Mona turns to me with a sad look, then back to Emily when I don't answer. "Now that was a bit cruel, Em."

"Says the one who made it happen."

She eyes her for a few seconds, Sydney looks a little confused as she watches me try not to react to what just happened.

Then Mona says, "How is she? Paige, I mean."

Emily tries to play nice and just says, "She stayed home today, scared."

"A dead rat has boy written all over it."

"Any particular boy?" Em asks.

Mona thinks and then shakes her head, "None come to mind."

"Not even Noel Kahn." she looks down at the books in Mona's hand.

"He leant me his notes." she says.

While I say at the same time, "Don't start, Em."

"You don't think it's weird that she has them?"

"Their friends."

"It was just a favor." Mona adds, then loops her arm between mine and drags me along.

Seeing Alison around school these days makes life aggravating. I may ignore her as much as I possibly can, but it doesn't make it any less shitty to see her. Since our last conversation she hasn't bothered to ambush me, or give me any type of contact. But the next day she does, which is not what I was hoping for when she finds me at my locker before I could head to the caf.

"Jessie."

I slowly turn my head to her as she stands by Emily's locker, a tad bit taller in her heels. "What do you want."

"The cops have been putting dents into my kidnap story."

"So?" I say in a _I don't care_ tone as I turn away and take some books out.

"So have they talked to you about me?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"And I didn't tell them anything that wasn't true."

She puts her hand gently on my arm, and that has me turn to her. "What did you say?" her face looks terrified. Oh how the tables have turned.

I smile evilly, "Scared?"

"Jessie." she takes a shaky breath, "What do you _want_ from me?"

"Not everything is about you, Alison." I close my locker, "But what I want is for things to go back to how they were."

"Before I came back." her voice is a bit sad.

"No. Before my family died in that car accident. But you being gone would be good too."

Her eyes sadden, "What did you tell the detectives?"

"That I know nothing because I don't talk to you and not as close to the girls anymore. Isn't that what you wanted? For me to play as the stupid person I am."

Her face drops, "No." she shakes her head, seeming upset. "Don't say that."

"Not like I haven't heard that from you before."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't care for your apology." I start to walk away, "Good luck on keeping _A_ from spilling your biggest secret to date." I say loud enough without turning around. "If I didn't have myself to worry about I'd help expose you."

All of a sudden I feel my arm get pulled back. When I turn around Alison has a tight hold on me, her eyes flaming in anger. "Don't you dare talk to me like that, Four Eyes. I can make your life a total nightmare."

My mouth slowly starts to drop as I watch her. The familiar expression on her face whenever she needs the person she's tormenting to see how serious she is about something.

For a split second I'm scared of her as my heart races, thinking she is going to hurt me from that look in her eyes. Then just as quickly I clench my jaw in anger, "Let go of me."

The anger in her eyes die down, loosening her grip on my arm. "Jessie, I'm sorry, I…"

"Go screw yourself, Ali."

I'm hanging in my room a couple days later, doing homework with Annabeth. She's drawing her new sketch for ceramics while I'm doing some math homework. She's in an advance math class so a few times she has to stop what she is doing to help me, because I have that intense dazed out look I get when I'm in the zone. The one where my tongue is sticking out when I'm really into something.

We are at it for about an hour in a half when someone knocks on my door. I get up and head over to the alley door and see that it's Aunt Ella.

"Hey, babygirl." she smiles.

"Aunt Ella." I smile back and move to the side, "Come in."

She gets passed me, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just barge over here."

"No, it's okay. I was just doing some homework with a friend."

She looks around, but Annabeth is still in my room. "Do you want me to come back?"

I shake my head, "No, it's cool. What's up?"

"Well you know that I'm back with Zack for our engagement party."

I nod, "I do."

"I was wondering if you'd like to help out with it."

I slightly smile, trying to figure out how to say no without making it obvious that I'm not on as good of terms with Aria right now. "I've been a bit busy with work. So I don't know if I can."

She laughs, "Jessie, you own the store. I think you can give yourself some rest to help out for a few hours."

My brain starts to fast pace, because I don't really know what to say at this point. Then I smile and nod, "Okay. No problem."

"Great, well Aria is making invitations at the house tonight. Help her out?"

"Sure. As soon as I'm done with my homework I'll go straight there."

"Thank you." she gets closer and hugs me, making me bend down from our height difference. Then she pulls away, "I'll see you later."

I walk her to the door, "Yea, definitely."

Using my key to the Montgomery house after not being here for awhile feels weird. It still feels like my home after living here for a year, but with everything going on between me and Ria it also feels like a strange place. As if living with them for all those months was a dream and I ended up waking up in someone else's body, in someone else's life.

I head over to the study and walk into the family room. Aria is sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table with the fireplace on behind her. She is writing on little cards.

"Hey."

She jumps a bit from my voice and looks to the side. Her smile is brighter than I expected it to be when she saw me. "Jessie."

I walk closer, putting my jacket on the chair and sitting on the sofa. "How far have you gotten with these?"

"I pretty much just started." She leans to the side and grabs some more packages, "Here, open these and copy what I wrote on this one. Just of course change the name of who it's for."

I grab them from her and look down at the page of names on the table in front of me. Then I get to work, trying to talk as normally as possible to her. Basically catching up on things we've missed on our lives. But just like I used to before, I can sense something is wrong. I know what it's about but she never bothers to tell me about _A_ being back.

Maybe an hour passes and a knock comes to the door. She gets up and walks over to it, opening it to see that it's Hanna.

"Hi." Hanna says in a sad voice. I'm not sure why she seems so upset, or why Aria's face is a mix of looking confused and like she wants to rip her head off when she comes in, but I am very curious.

"Hey." Aria says back, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, Jessie." Hanna gets in, half smiling.

"Hey, Han."

"Do you need a towel?" Aria asks, now noticing that it was raining outside and Hanna is soaking wet.

She turns around to her, "No, I'm fine." she's quiet for a few seconds. "Look, I know that me and you aren't on the best terms right now but…"

As soon as she starts that conversation I block them out quickly, grabbing my phone off the table and get up. I slowly walk over to the study, neither of them seem to notice this as I don't want to get into anymore messes or into a conversation that seems private.

But that doesn't help much as I get into the hallway and end up hearing, "This is so messed up." as Aria's voice raises and bit.

I walk a little faster towards the kitchen and get to the stairs. I run up the steps, my first instinct being to go to my room. But when I get into "my room" I remember that my stuff isn't here anymore. My bed is no longer across from Aria's by the wall, her desk is there like it used to be. Everything in her room is right back to how it was before I moved into this room with her.

"Why would I do that!" I hear Hanna's voice echo upstairs to me.

I'm wondering what is going on to make her yell that way as Aria's voice travels now, "Were you trashed!"

"No!" Hanna's voice comes again.

I'm looking over towards the door, wondering what could be making them argue like that. Aria is so energized in rage that it scares me. The last time she was like that was when she found out that Ezra was writing that book. However, I turn back to her room, not bothering to move. I stare around, not able to believe that not too long ago I was living here, everything seeming as normal as I could feel with a real family again. But now everything is different.

I hear the door slam from downstairs, silence for a few seconds and then my name being called. Footsteps come not too long later as she climbs the steps. "Jessie!"

"In here." I raise my voice, but don't yell.

I hear her steps getting louder, until she is at her door. I watch her for a second as she walks in and stands beside me. "Feels like you were never here." she says in a sad voice.

I look down at her, "I know. But it was going to happen one day."

"Didn't think it be before we graduated."

I slowly nod, then say. "What's up with Hanna."

She stares up at me, her eyes flaming all of a sudden. "She is spiralling with her drinking problem and made up some story about Zack hitting on her."

My heart sinks, then my eyebrows slant in confusion, "Why do you sound so unworried about this?"

"Don't believe a word she says, Jessie. Hanna has been out of control since Ali got back."

"Not like she doesn't have a reason to." I say under my breath.

She hears me as she moves in front of me, "Are we going to have an argument about Ali now?"

I shake my head, "Nope. Because I can care less at this point what you do while with Alison."

"So you'll never give her a chance?"

"After what she did the other day?" I shake my head, "Hell no."

She looks confused, I so did not mean to bring this up. "What?"

"I uh…" I shake my head multiple times, "Nothing. Nevermind."

"Jessie. _Tell me_."

I watch her for a few seconds, then shake my head and take a deep breath. "She turned into her old self. She grabbed onto me in her same tight grip when she's mad when I told her off and called me Four Eyes, okay?"

" _What_?"

"It's whatever. You guys wanted her back, so here she is. Old Alison and all. Me? I want nothing to do with her and if I have to defend myself I will." I start to back away, "I have to go."

"Wait."

"I'll see you at school." then I turn around and take off.


	68. Chapter 68

**Here you go guys, another chapter. Finally hit the halfway mark till the girls get sucked into the crazy dollhouse episodes.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please drop me a review and let me know what you think.**

 **Thanks!**

* * *

Let's skip to Thanksgiving. To no surprise more things have been hectic. Alison and the girls had gotten grilled about the kidnap story. But eventually things died down when they found the supposed kidnapper. I have no idea who the person they picked up as her abductor was, but I obviously know the truth about this. It's completely and utterly annoying to stand back and watch all this go down, to see that she is getting away with things just like she always has. But I can't say a word of this without getting myself in trouble. Not to mention getting Ezra and everyone else who knows or was involved in this as well.

Another interesting thing is that the girls finally are bailing in being behind Alison's craziness. They are distancing themselves from her since her "kidnapper" was arrested and she almost allowed him to be sent to jail for a fake story. The fact she risked a man's life for her own shows how much she hasn't changed and doesn't care about anyone else but herself.

Why do I know this? Well besides that Toby filled me in, Spencer reached out and tried to apologize for not being more considerate with my choices. The others did the same, but it doesn't change what they did. Aria and me may be a little more on the talking side then the others since she was the first to reach out days after I moved out, but even her presence feels off. Never thought I'd feel like this with two of my childhood best friends.

Some more news in this crazy town of mine is that Aunt Ella and Zack are no longer engaged. Aria eventually passed what Hanna had told her to Aunt Ella and she wasn't surprised by it at all, canceling the party. Apparently this wasn't the first time he's done this, and Aunt Ella had enough of it. So now she is back living in town.

On top of that Aria and Ezra got back together, which I was not happy about. We are still not on good terms. I don't give him more than a smile for a hi whenever I see him, but always avoid going on the balcony at the same time he might be out there. Then Emily is also back with Paige, Hanna and Caleb are now a thing again, and lastly, Mike and Mona worked things out and are seeing each other. They are the only ones I've been able to try a double date with since me and Noel started seeing each other.

I'm just getting out of my car from picking some stuff up at the grocery store to bring with me to Aunt Casey's when Aunt Ella walks out of the Brew and heads towards my store.

"Jessie."

I turn to her voice and smile, "Hey, Aunt Ella."

"I'm happy to catch you before you head to spending time with your family."

"Even if I wasn't going to Jersey, Aunt Ella, I'd still be. You're my family too."

She smiles, "You know how to cheer a person up."

I give her a sad look, "Still upset about Zack?"

She half smiles, slightly shrugging. "I know it's stupid."

"It's not stupid. You were happy again after Uncle Byron. You wanted this to work."

"I guess I was too old for him."

"No way, Aunt Ella. He was just a total jerk."

She slightly smiles, "Well I have to go. Need to help your uncle with dinner."

"I'm glad you and him are on good terms after everything."

She nods, "Me too." she leans in and hugs me, kissing me on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too."

She lets go and looks up at me, "Let me know when Bobby gets you and when you get there."

"Will do."

"You're staying at Casey's for how long?"

"I'll be back on Sunday."

After this open the store to make sure that I get a few things done before Bobby comes to pick me up. Then after a bit of making sure everything is okay I walk over to the Brew. To my great relief Toby is there. There's something about seeing his wonderful face (that we can now see without the long hair) that makes me feel safe. But what shocks me is that he is in a wheelchair, his leg up and in a cast.

He smiles at me, "Happy Thanksgiving, Jess."

My mouth drops, "Tobs, what happened to you." I walk over and sit next to him on one of the sofas.

He looks at his broken leg, "I got into a car accident on my way to my graduation last night."

Toby had decided to be a cop, tired of feeling helpless against _A_ and wanted to figure out what was going on with Alison's story. So he decided to enroll at an academy to be a cop to get inside access to things. I am super proud of him for that. Talk about something I never thought he'd do with his bad reputation from the Rosewood Police for years.

My face drops a bit, " _What_? And I'm just hearing about this."

He smiles, "I'm okay. I didn't want to worry you." I go to say something but he interrupts, "You ready to spend your first holiday in over two years with your family?"

I take a deep breath, hating that he switched the conversation as I shake my head a bit. "Not really. I feel like I don't fit in anymore."

He gives me a sad look, "You're a Brant, you're always going to fit in with them."

I slightly smile, "Hope so."

Then just like that all of a sudden all four girls are walking into the Brew. My first thought is to get up, but Toby puts his hand to my arm and holds onto it. "Please stay."

"Tobs, I can't."

"They need help."

"They've been doing fine all on their own."

"You know for a fact that is not true."

I take a breath and agree to stay as the girls walk over. I try to play nice and talk to them as normally as possible for Toby's sake. But all that goes to shit when Holbrook and a couple of local police walk into the Brew and arrest Spencer, claiming that she killed Bethany Young.

"Spence!" the girls yell as they handcuff her.

"Guys!" she yells back.

"Stop!" I add as they start to pull her away, my stomach going into a knot of panic.

"Spencer!" Toby yells, trying to jump out of his wheelchair.

I look at the other girls and Toby in complete shock when they haul her out, "There is no way that just happened."

They all just look at each other, then at Toby and me. None of us even know how to react to what we just witnessed. According to them, Ali had an interview with the police and in the video Mona hacked from the Rosewood Police Station, she basically put hints to frame Spencer.

Later on as I'm heading out of the Brew after a long conversation with all of them and before Bobby comes, Noel pops up. I watch him for a few seconds, still a little bit ticked off with him. Not long after Ali came back she made Noel help her with another favor. She asked him to break into the house to pretend like he was trying to go after her 'cause her kidnap story was falling through and needed some people to believe her. So her thought process was while she was staying at Hanna's house for the time being she had him do it during a storm while Hanna's mom was home. Stupid him he ended up going with it and the girls tried to warn me that he was bad news, but I felt like they were trying to rip us apart since they disapproved him. I didn't want to listen. So when I confronted him he told me he did and now I feel like I don't know what to say to him anymore.

He has a sad look as he stares down at me, "Hey."

"Hi." I walk around him to get to my apartment.

"Jessie." he grabs onto my elbow.

I turn to him and look up, "I don't have time for this right now." Not only am I upset with him and trying to make sure I have everything ready to be picked up, but seeing Spencer get pulled away by cops like that for something she didn't do makes everything seem like a dream right now.

"Please talk to me."

"Why?"

"I miss you."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you got yourself into another Alison mess."

"I told you I was careful. No one knows it was me."

"She does."

"She isn't going to tell."

"She may say that now, but how do you know she won't backstab you later on."

"Because she has no proof that I helped her. But I do. I have pictures and audio tape that shows what she's been up to when she reached out to me when she was supposed to be "kidnapped". Even evidence from a _couple_ years ago when she reached out to Shana. Plus there are a lot of people who can bring her down with this kidnap bullshit. She wouldn't risk telling on me when I can make her life hell too."

"Why even bother to?"

He takes a deep breath, "It's…"

"Complicated. I know. You keep saying that."

"Then why do you keep asking me?"

"Because if we are going to work then I need you to be honest with me. I feel the same way I did with the girls again with secrets."

"So you believe your friends about me."

"No, I believe what I see. And right now you aren't giving me a choice to give you the benefit of the doubt."

He closes his eyes, then grabs my hands in his when he opens them. "If I tell you, you won't look at me the same."

I look into his blue eyes, they are sad looking. "I will look at you the same, just trust me."

He kisses my hands, then straightens up and inhales deeply. "I accidentally hurt a girl at a frat party."

"How?"

He watches me for a few seconds, "It was years ago, my brother took me. Some girl was hitting on me even as an thirteen year old kid. We were heading upstairs when I accidentally knocked into her because I was seeing double. Next thing I know she's toppling down the stairs."

I lose my breath for a second, "D-Did she…"

"Die?" he shakes his head as I nod to his question, "No, but my dad paid off the parents to keep her quiet. She thought I did it on purpose and being underaged at a college party would have ruined my future."

I watch him for a second as I take a few deep breaths. "So Alison is holding that over your head." He nods in a sad way and I just hug him around the middle.

"Hey." he wraps his arms around me, "What's this for?"

"For telling me the truth."

I feel him take a deep breath, his head laying on mine. "I'd never lie to you."

By the time Bobby lets me know that he is coming to get me, I'm nothing but nerves. I got really close to backing out, my anxiety had reached a high level just before he pulled up in front of my place and I could hardly breath. Being around Bobby is one thing, but to actually hang out with his mom, Uncle Tyler, my grandpa and other family members I haven't seen since the funeral is a whole other thing. But I'm going to suck it up and go anyway.

I walk out the back and head down the steps, the sun just starting to go down. He gives a kiss on the cheek when I get to him, a tradition the hispanics usually do when greeting someone or saying goodbye.

"It's been awhile, cuzzo."

I hand him some bags so that we can put it in his trunk, "I know. You know how senior year is."

He nods, "I do." he closes his trunk. "Still can't believe you are living here by yourself."

I half smile, "Thought it was time to be independent."

We both walk to the sides of his car and get inside. "You've always been an independent person. So it doesn't totally shock me. I just saw you continuing to live with the Montgomery's until you had to start college."

"Starting early doesn't hurt."

He turns on his car, "True that."

The drive to New Jersey is half and half the whole time. At first we caught up with each other's lives. How I have a guy in my life that I've know long enough to know that he won't hurt me, in both a physical and mental way. He tells me that him and Sam are still going strong. Then of course the whole Alison thing comes into it. He didn't know her but he's been around long enough to hear stories about her. After that I talk about Spencer getting arresting, then the ride is pretty silent as we listen to music for the rest of the way.

When we pull up to Aunt Casey's house I recognize a few cars in the driveway. The most obvious is Aunt's Casey's, then you have Uncle Tyler. There's also his twenty four year old oldest son's car Tyler Jr., but we mostly call him Junior though. Then I see that there's a third car, Aunt Katie's. Even though they are friends with her and she is my family, I never thought they would invite her. Or that she would celebrate with us considering she has her own family.

"You didn't tell me that my Aunt Katie was joining us."

He shakes his head, "I had no idea." he looks at me, "You're okay to do all this? After you just saw what happened to Spencer."

I slightly smile, "I'm fine. I'm grateful to be away from that crazy town for a bit."

"Aren't you going to miss all the thrill." he asks sarcastically with a smile.

I laugh, "What more could possibly happen?"

When we get inside I see Junior hanging in the living room with his dad and grandpa Jimmy. They are all watching football.

"Hey, gramps." Bobby says as he walks over to the boys.

He stares up at him and smiles, "Kiddo, how are you?"

"Great." they shake hands.

Then grandpa looks at me and his eyes light up, "Is that my little Jessie."

I smile, blushing a little. "Hey, grandpa."

He stands and holds out his arms to put the on my shoulders. He checks me at arm's length and somes. "I remember when you were this big." He gestures his hand to being smaller than I was and then kisses me on the forehead. "You look just like Joey."

Me and Bobby head to the kitchen after this and see that both of my aunts are cooking. "Happy turkey day everyone." Bobby says as we set the bags onto the kitchen table.

The both turn around and look at us with smiles, "Look at these grown up kids." Aunt Casey says as gives Bobby a kiss on on the cheek and me a hug.

Then Aunt Katie walks over and hugs me, "How are you?"

I slightly smile, "Okay. School mostly."

Once we get everything set we go to the dining room. I'm sitting in between Bobby and Junior, who both thought it was funny to toss a loaf of bread at me before grandpa said a prayer. It's been awhile that I've been in an atmosphere like this.

Now it's about two hours into this visit when my phone starts to buzz in my pocket. I look at it to see that Aria is calling me, but I ignore it.

"Pass the gravy?" I ask my fifteen year old cousin (Uncle Tyler's kid).

She smiles and hands it to me. My uncle only has the two kids, Junior and Jenny.

A minutes passes when I get another call, this time from Emily. Then another minute it's Hanna. Then it goes down the line as I keep getting calls from my friends. Toby, Caleb, Lucas, Noel, even _Mike_. There is something seriously wrong if not answering everyone else's calls is making them more desperate to get my attention.

I get up from my seat and excuse myself as I head into the hallway. When I look at my phone I have voicemails from everyone who called me, and texts saying to get back to them ASAP. As I listen to the messages all of them are saying the same thing. _Someone killed Mona_.

My heart sinks, my head spinning as I slide down the wall and onto the floor. My stomach feeling sick and like I', going to throw up my food, staring at my phone in disbelief.

"Jessie?" Uncle Tyler's voice comes a few minutes later, "Kiddo, where are you?"

He comes around the corner and notices me on the floor. So I slowly stare up at him, my eyes watering. My breathing starts to pick up as he kneels beside me and I just jump into his arms, wanting the comfort I used to feel with him when I was a kid.

I mean, me and Mona may have only recently become close again after what she's done, but she's been my support system for awhile. My support system against Alison especially made me able to trust her again. And yea, she did some crazy things in the past couple years, but she didn't deserve to be killed.


	69. Chapter 69

**Here you go guys, another chapter.**

 **Enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

The first person I call once my uncle calms me down is Mike. They were dating after all and would be the most upset about it. I'm shocked that he's even able to form words as we talked. The only thing I can think of is that he's too shocked to even be able to grasp what happened. It's like he wasn't even affected by it.

After him I call Hanna since Mona used to be her best friend. Now she's reacting the way I thought Mike would. She's in complete tears and sounds like she's on the verge of choking from all the crying she's doing and I do all I can to hold back my urge to cry again.

"There was so much blood."

I can feel the lump grow in my throat from wanting to lose it as my stomach gets into a knot, "You...you saw it?"

"It…" she takes a deep breath, "It was all over the house."

"Hanna…"

"She's dead, Jessie."

"I know, Han. I'm so sorry."

Being here with the family is probably the best thing for me in a time like this. Not having to worry about what happened in Rosewood by actually witnessing what probably is hell right now is making it better to concentrate. Even though they all know that she was the one who kidnapped me and made my life a bit hard for a while, they seem to be sympathetic at the fact that I did eventually become friends with her again and put the past behind me. But at the same time they seem to not really understand why I would have ever bothered to give her another chance after what I went through.

It's amazing how Thanksgiving was a whole bunch of shit after the other. Spencer and now Mona? What the hell is going on here.

When I get back to town Sunday afternoon, the place is more chaotic than usual. According to Aria, they never found Mona's body. The cops are zooming up and down the street, reporters all over the place. It's like the day Alison, now known as Bethany, was found all over again.

Bobby pulls up in front of my place and parks. I'm about to get out when he grabs onto my arm. "Jay."

I slowly look at him, "Yea?"

"Are you sure you're alright? You didn't talk through the entire drive."

I half smile, "I'm fine. Just weird."

"I'm sorry about Mona. I wasn't her biggest fan, but I know she was there for you when you needed her."

"Thanks." I grab my bag from the back with my stuff and then pull on the door handle, "Do you want to come inside?"

He watches me for a few seconds, "I would but I have some homework due for tomorrow's class."

"And you left it to the last minute."

"We are so much alike, aren't we?"

I laugh, "Too much at times."

Tonight I'm laying in my bed, staring up at the semi dark ceiling in a daze. Mona's dead? Like...I don't even know how to process that.

My phone rings on the nightstand. It's almost twelve in the morning, who could that be?

I lean over and grab my phone, checking the name. It's Annabeth. So I take a deep breath and answer, "Hello?"

"Hey." Her voice sounds low, like she doesn't know how to say the word properly.

"Hey, what's up."

"Worried about you."

"I'm okay."

She is quiet for a second, "Don't lie to me, Jessie."

"Anna…"

"We may not have been friends for long but I've gotten pretty good at picking up how you are when you're upset."

I take a deep breath, "I'm hanging in there."

"Maybe we should ditch school. I'll come over?"

I slightly smile, "Nah. I'm okay. I've been through something like this before. Hiding from the world is the worst thing for me to do."

I head to the Brew before school the next morning, which is awkward because the people there start to give me looks when they notice it's me. Most are sympathetic, others are just unsure. I mean, yea, a lot of people had been seeing me be more friendly to someone who traumatized me. So I guess they don't really know how to react to my presence.

I go to the counter and order a coffee, then stand to the side to wait. While waiting I feel someone's hand go to my arm, making me turn around.

"Hey." Aria says, half smiling.

I awkwardly smile back, "Hey."

"You alright?"

"Yea, course."

She gives me a look, then turns her head behind her. The other girls are sitting in their regular spot. "Want to join us?"

The door opens and when I look I see that it's Alison. I turn back to Aria, "I rather leave."

She half smiles, "I don't blame you."

"Jessie!" Alison's voice comes from behind me.

I give a groan, making Aria laugh. "Here we go."

"Jessie, hey." I feel her hand go onto my shoulder.

I turn around, pulling my arm away. "Trying to get on my good side?"

"Oh, Jessie." She says in a nice voice, giving a sweet smile, "Why must you always give an attitude."

"When it comes to you?" I shrug, grabbing my coffee off the counter and shake my head, "I have no idea." I say sarcastically.

She keeps her nice smile, but I can see the flames in her eyes coming through. "I just wanted to say I was sorry about Mona."

"I'm sure you are." I look down at Aria, "I have to go meet with a friend."

She half smiles, "Okay."

I turn around and walk away, bumping Alison's shoulder on the way out. "Excuse you."

She grabs onto my arm, "Don't test my patience, Jessie."

I take a deep breath, catching Aria's eyes. Then I look back at her, "And don't underestimate me, Alison."

So a month passes after everything that happened and Mona's body is still missing. All that blood found in her house but no one has any idea who did it or who took her remains. Spencer has been out on bail until they can make a case against her for killing Bethany Young. Everyone is just as worried though about the fact that they think Alison may be _A_ according to Mona before she died and basically made everyone for a fool when she started to build her own army once the girls ditched her. Some of the former people she picked on have sided with her, which is not a good sign.

I'm still keeping a bit of distance from the girls considering that Alison now has her priorities not so straight when it comes to them and can drag me into it if I get too close to helping them out. We still talk at school or whenever we run into each other outside of it but I try not to get too attached to them enough to include myself in their Alison/ _A_ mess. I hate that I pretty much started letting Ali run my life by not having much contact with them for my own personal reasons, but I can't go down with them.

All this time with Mona being missing and I've managed to get maybe two words out of Mike. He's been so devastated that I don't know how to comfort him anymore. That is until he shows up at my door one day and practically begs me to go with him to Mona's house in the middle of the night, saying he needs to talk to me.

"Mike, I can't go to her house. That's too weird."

"Please? I need to explain something to you, but in order to do that I need to show you."

"Umm…" I sigh and nod, "Okay." I grab my stuff and drive us to her place.

When we get there he drags me to her backyard and walks straight to a tree. He jumps onto a stump and puts his hand into a hole in the trunk of the tree. I get chills going down my spine, not only because it's the middle of December, but because I have no idea what could be in that hole. Dead animals for all I know.

"Mike, what are you doing?" I'm holding onto the flashlight he gave me and have it pointed at him.

He pulls his hand out and looks at it, disappointment in his eyes. "I was hoping she left something for me this time."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, "Who?"

He gets down and pats his hands onto his pants, getting whatever made his hands dirty onto them. "Mona."

"Mona?"

He nods, and then takes a breath. "She told me she would leave me notes to make sure she was okay and not worry me, but I am worried not hearing from her at all since it happened."

I'm so confused that he can see it all over my face, "Mikey, Mona is dead."

He shakes his head, "I don't want to believe that."

"Then believe the police. They found gallons of blood all over her house, she didn't live through that."

He takes a deep breath, "Mona planned this, Jessie."

I give him a sad look, "Mike…"

"No, Jessie. I _know_ she did. We discussed all this, but she did it too early."

I shake my head multiple times, "I don't understand what you are getting at."

He looks over at the back of Mona's house, then looks down at me again, "She was trying to gain _A's_ trust. She wants to frame Alison for her "murder" but now I'm not so sure she was the one who did this."

My mouth drops in shock, completely speechless. "W-What did you just say?"

He walks closer and holds my cold hands in his, "Mona had started working with _A_ again. She needed to get this person's trust, so she had been taking her own blood and was going to fake her own death, make Alison take the heat and then that would make _A_ trust her enough to find out who it was. Once she did she would come back and explain everything to the cops. But she's been silent for a month, she assured me she would keep contact."

"Hold on." I take a deep breath, my head spinning. "You know about _A_?"

"Don't you?"

"I-I mean, yea. But why would Mona tell _you_ that?"

"I walked into her room when she was in the middle of taking blood and sticking it into her mini fridge with the rest of her collection of blood, so she had to tell me."

I give a disgusted look, "That's insane."

"She thought it was a good idea."

"That was a _very_ stupid idea. Especially since now you think it backfired."

"I think _A_ killed her for real."

I take a breath and slowly nod, "I honestly think you're right. _A_ must have found out what she was up to." I think for a few seconds, "Or _A_ had their own plan."

"Is that something _A_ would do?"

"It's _definitely_ something _A_ would do."

He watches me for about a minute in silence, his eyes looking really sad. "I should have told you a long time ago."

I shake my head, "Mona trusted you with this secret. She thought she knew what she was doing. But you know you have to tell the girls about this right?"

He shakes his head, "No. Not yet."

" _Mike_."

"Jessie, promise me you won't say anything. I needed to get that out, but not to them. _A_ is after them and if I slip up they will be in bigger trouble not only with _A_ , but with the police if they find out."

I take a deep breath and nod, "Okay. But I don't know how long I can keep a secret like that for. If you don't do it soon _I_ will."

He nods, "Promise. I just need a bit more time."

Seeing the girls after this bombshell is really hard to do. Looking at them and not being able to say anything isn't easy. They can tell something is wrong when we talk at school, but I play it off like it's nothing or like I'm stressed with work and school and leave it at that.

Me and Noel are now officially considered a couple in everyone else's eyes. We haven't officially labeled ourselves as dating, but it feels kind of cool that the once former loser caught the eye of the most popular rich guy in school.

"Hello, beautiful." he grabs me around the middle from behind and kisses me on the cheek when he sees me at my locker after school.

I turn my head and smile up at him, "Hey. How was your day."

He lets go of me, kissing me on the lips once I close my locker and fully turn around. "Better now that I'm with you."

I smile, "You sure know how to brighten a girl's day."

"You're not so bad yourself."

I look to the side and notice Alison walking down the hallway with her new gang. Since the girls haven't been hanging with her she had to make new friends. The funny thing is that her new "friends" resemble a lot to Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna. That can't be a coincidence.

When I shift my eyes I see that the girls are all standing over by Spencer's locker, eyeing Alison as well as she by passes them without eye contact or a hello and comes straight towards us.

"Oh no."

"What?" he asks, turning to the side.

"Hello, Jessie." she smiles nicely.

I half smile, "Alison."

"You're coming to my Iceball dance, right?"

"Oh..uhh."

"Please say yes. It's going to be the greatest dance of the year."

"I never got my invitation actually." I play stupid with her, when in reality I did and threw it out as soon as I did. Not to mention there are posters all over town for anyone to go 'cause it's a charity event.

"No problem. I'll text you the details."

I slowly nod, knowing that neither of us actually have each other's numbers. So she is either going to text Noel to pass the info to me or she is just playing a game for her new friends, because those look alikes from the girls are all giving me mixed signals of liking and hating me right now.

"Sure."

She smiles as she leans in and gives a kiss on each cheek. Then she walks away, the four look alikes right behind her.

My mouth slowly drops, looking up at Noel. "What the hell was that about?"

He shrugs, "For appearances I guess."

Then the girls come out of nowhere beside us, "Why did she kiss you?" Hanna asks in confusion.

I shrug, "Playing the nice act. She wants me to come to her party."

"What is she up to." Spencer says as she watches the area that Alison walked out the front doors.

I shrug, "I have no idea, but I did not like it."

"Don't let her suck you into this mess, Jessie." Aria tells me.

I look at her, "I wasn't planning on that."

"I'll keep her safe." Noel gets in, hugging me to his body.

They all look up at him, half smiling. "I think her friends can help with that." Spencer tells him a little bit mean.

He laughs, "You call yourself her friends?"

"Noel." I get out

"You weren't much of one when you took Ali's side and basically scraped her to the curb like garbage."

"We _apologize_ for that." Emily adds.

"Only _after_ you noticed she was still a backstabbing bitch."

" _Stop_."

They all look at me. Something between the girls and Noel has changed. They all have this fire in their eyes that is more flamed than it used to be.

"You know I'm standing right here right?"

They all look around at each other in embarrassment. Then all of a sudden it's like they have a silent agreement that they will not act on their emotions for the sake of me. I don't know whether to be happy that they are willing to get along, or upset that they don't even like each other enough to get over whatever has been going on between them.

"Sorry." they all get out at the same time.

I take a deep breath, "We are all on the same team when it comes to not liking Alison. But if she is planning something big for whoever challenges her then I rather keep out of that chaos."

"We get it." Hanna says.

"You've been through enough for a lifetime." Aria adds.

"So you don't need to be involved in anything." Spencer continues.

"Just live your life." Emily finishes.

I half smile, "I appreciate that." I look up at Noel and grab his hand. "Help me at the store?"

He smiles, linking his fingers between mine and squeezes. "At your service."


	70. Chapter 70

**Hey everyone. Hope your Christmas went well.**

 **Enjoy the new chapter and please review. Let me know what you guys think.**

 **I do not own PLL. Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Heads up for any Harry Potter fans our there. I just put up a new OC story based off of that world called The Kelly Twins. Please check it out and don't be shy to give me feedback. I'd love to know what you think.**

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It's amazing how a person can mean so much to someone. A lot of people are devastated over Mona's death, even after everything she's done to people. Between being popular and picking on others to going insane enough to stalk, kidnap, and almost kill people. Despite my differences from her I managed to put it all behind when it mattered most, and that's because she was actually a really good friend.

The only thing that ended up not making things better with her death is my friendship with the girls. We may try to be on good terms like we used to, but it's not the same. We all feel awkward around each other if it's not based off of a specific topic. So trying to make small talk is almost out of the question half the time.

Its sad that in the month that's passed since Alison came back and Mona's death that somehow things aren't able to get back to normal. I mean, yes, it was my decision to I cut them off, but I know it was the right move considering they never really fought for my friendship. They let me space myself and only apologized once they realized how wrong they were.

"Jessie!"

I turn around and watch as Andrew starts to walk down the hall to my locker one day before lunch. Ever since he found out that I'm a thing with Noel he's been a bit protective. Which I can understand after what happened with Blake. He's afraid it may happen again.

I smile as he gets to me, "What's up?"

"I have a question for you."

"Okay?"

"Are you going to the Iceball?"

I half smile, "Wasn't planning to. Why?"

"I don't have a date and I thought we'd go together."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, my mouth kind of dropping. "What?"

He laughs at my reaction, "As friends. Like a group thing with us and Noel. Maybe Annabeth too?"

I start to smile, "Does someone have a crush on the new girl?"

He laughs, shaking his head. "Oh, no. I just figured that you two are pretty close and would want to include her."

"So you both would be third wheeling with a couple."

He shrugs, "Sure."

I smile, "I'll ask Noel."

"Awesome." He hugs me, "Talk to you in ceramics."

I'm honestly not really into going to this charity event, more because it's being hosted by Alison than any other reason. But at the same time I feel like I shouldn't not go because it's for a good cause. So should I really be skipping something like this only to avoid someone I don't like? Seems more selfish than anything else to do so.

As I get into the lunchroom I spot Noel sitting with Sean and some of their other friends. The girls all turn their heads at the same time from a couple tables down, watching in my direction. I feel a bit weird as my face turns red, then walk towards Noel. As I get closer I glance back at them, seeing that they are still staring at the same spot. So when I turn my head I notice it's because Alison is sitting at a table that's near where I was standing with the look alikes. That explains a lot.

"Hey, babe." Noel says, kissing me on the cheek when I settle in beside him. "How's your day?"

I set my brown paper bag onto the table and take out a ham sandwich with a canned pepsi and chips. "Boring. I fell asleep in Aunt Ella's class today and she completely flipped out."

Sean starts laughing, "You'd think you would get a slip from your guardian."

I half smile, "She doesn't even give a pass to her biological kids. You think she's going to give one to her adopted one?"

"Is it weird…" one of the girls sitting with us named Kaitlyn gets in, "Being adopted."

We all look at her. Noel's face has this look like he can't believe she asked that, but I slightly smile. "With them no, because I've known the Montgomery's since I was three. But knowing why I got adopted at a late age can be hard at times."

Then the subject gets changed as we all start to talk a little more. About school, Alison being Alison. The usual things you talk about in school. Then the Iceball comes into the conversation. Sean is taking Piper, and this gives me time to slip in my idea once we are on our way to our next class.

"I was thinking that maybe we could go."

Noel looks down at me as we head to the stairs to get to the second floor. "Yea?"

I half smile, "Just to give support to the cause. Not for Alison. She doesn't need anyone's sympathy of being nice, especially not mine."

He smiles, "You are becoming one tough girl towards her. I really thought you weren't going to be able to handle her being back."

"As long as I can keep my head on and not think about what she may do for my attitude I'm able to concentrate on not letting her scare me."

"That's my girl." he leans down and kisses me.

I smile, "Maybe we can go with friends?"

"Sean and Piper?"

I nod, "Annabeth too."

He smiles, "Sounds good."

"And Andrew?"

His face drops a little, stopping in his tracks. "Andrew?"

"Yea."

"You're inviting your ex to join us."

"Noel, he's still my friend."

"A friend that's gotten pretty attached to you lately."

"He's just protective of new guys getting close to me after what happened with Blake."

His eyes sadden, then he nods. "Yea. I get it."

Christmas Eve comes and I'm actually so pumped for this dance that I ask Aunt Ella to come over to help me out with my hair. Down side to not being girly is that I always need fashion advice and help. She made me promise that if she helped that I had to spend Christmas with them and not by myself like I planned on doing, which I decided to go along with.

Why am I so excited you ask. Because this is the first time that I'm going to a dance with Noel as a date. Our first official public school event that doesn't have us going as just friends.

Little do I know that Aunt Ella sends Aria over to my place to help instead of her. So you'd have to guess my shock to see her when I open the door. But I have to say that she's definitely a help, and I think this was Aunt Ella's way of getting us back on track. She's noticed our intense lack of friendship lately since she's moved back to Rosewood and she seems pretty upset about her daughters not getting along much.

"There." Aria tells me as she curls the tip of the last piece of my hair.

I grab my hair and set it to the side, smiling at the practically not recognizable red head in front of me from the mirror. "Thanks, Ria."

She smiles, "Of course." she starts to put everything away, "Well I have to go."

"You know, you could have gotten ready here."

"Oh. I didn't think of that honestly."

I half smile, "That's okay."

"I'll meet with you at the dance though. Can't wait to see your dress."

Now I'm slipping into a light blue dress, light enough to look like it could pull off being white. I really hate dresses, but Ima suck it up.

As I get the dress down to my ankles my phone rings. So I walk over to my desk and grab it, seeing that it's Toby. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jess."

"Hey, what's going on."

"Not much. Just needed a favor with something."

"Oh, with what?"

"The girls are all going to the dance, and I'm supposed to be watching Alison's house from Spencer's place."

My eyebrows slant in confusion, "What?"

"It's a long story that has to do with helping Spencer get cleared of her arrest."

"And how do I come into play?"

"Keep me company?"

I get a little sad, "Aw, Tobs. I'm actually going to the dance."

"Oh." his voice gets disappointed, "I thought you didn't do dances."

"I don't enjoy them much, but I'm going with Noel."

"Ohhh." now his voice picks up in a happy way, "Look at you."

I laugh, "If it's lame though I'll slip out early and come hang with you."

"Sounds like a plan. Have fun."

"Thanks."

Iceball is definitely what it is meant to be. A literal ice themed dance. The whole place is decorated like an ice forest, everyone in white or some kind of light clothing. I have to admit though, it does look nice.

I head down the steps with my arm looped through Noel's arm. Our friends climbing down the stairs right behind us. Everyone who is already her is watching us as we walk down it, talking amongst themselves as my face turns red. I hate so much attention.

"Breathe." Noel tells me, squeezing my hand when he sets his onto mine. "You look beautiful."

I look up at him, he's in a white tux and tie that matches my dress."Thank you." I smile, "You look really cute yourself."

He kisses my cheek, "Thank you."

We get to the bottom and a swarm of people get to us. There's Tori, Carter and Lizzy. All of them have smiles on their faces as they pull me away from Noel.

Then Kelly runs out of nowhere from beside us. "Jay! You look amazing!"

I laugh, turning more red. "It's not that big of a deal."

"It's a major deal for someone who hates dressing up like this." Alyssa says as her and Freya get to us now.

I smile, then spot the girls with their dates in the middle of the dance floor on a gazebo. There's Caleb and Hanna, Emily and Paige, and Aria with Ezra. Oh, fantastic. Now I have to talk to him if I run into him. Then I remember that Toby is still in his wheelchair and watching Ali's house while Spencer is here dateless for the night.

They are all giving me smiles, seeming excited to see me. Even Ezra has a look in his eyes like he really wants to come over to me. But he knows better than to try, knowing what he did ruined my view of that brother figure I had with him.

"Did Ali get here yet?" I ask when I look away from them and turn back to my other friends.

They all shake their heads, "Not yet." Tori says.

"Probably needs to make a grand entrance." Carter adds.

I half laugh, "Yep. That sounds like the queen bee I remember."

"I love this song." I hear Annabeth's voice from behind me, making me turn around.

I smile, "Me too." then I look at my friends, "Guys, this is Annabeth."

"The new girl from Britain." Annabeth adds, smiling. "Just thought I'd get that part out of the way since it's everyone's favorite phrase."

I laugh, "Right." then I point one by one to everyone to introduce them to her.

For awhile we just talk. They have never hung out with Annabeth before, so they try to get every question they probably have for her out as we sit at a table. I'm sitting on Noel's lap with his arms around me, Andrew eventually took off with some of his buddies who hooked him up with a date, and Sean and Piper are dancing.

Every once in awhile I'll look around to take in the scenery of the room. It looks incredible. The trees are even white, the lights are dimmed to a silver like shade to make it look like the night sky of the moon shining down on us. The place has christmas lights all over the place. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Alison did pretty good.

"Dork."

I feel someone poke my arm from the side, making me get a little heated from how hard it was and turn to where the voice came from.

"Go away, Emma." Noel tells her.

She laughs, "Just because she is dating you doesn't mean she's any less of one."

Then everyone starts to get rowdy again, making us all get silent to look. I slowly lean forward on Noel and turn my body around as Emma takes off. There she is, Alison DiLaurentis, being all dolled up in her gown of gold to outshine everyone else. Her new group of girls to her sides in mascarade masks. I didn't realize till now that there are quite a few people wear masks as well, but it doesn't seem to be mandatory.

All five girls are looking down from the staircase to everyone here, a smile on Alison's face. Then they start to walk down the steps and she greets people who come up to her.

Then I notice that Spencer and Hanna take off from their group and head to the stairs, goes up them and disappears.

"Jessie, you made it."

I look to the side and see that Alison found me. Everyone else who was hangin with us took off not long after she got here, but we wanted to stick it out.

I get up from Noel's lap and stand, "Didn't think I would?"

She gives me her nice smile, "I actually hoped you would."

"Oh, really." I say sarcastically, "Why's that."

She shrugs, "Just love seeing you be a normal girl. That's all."

My eyebrows slant a little in anger. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, Jessie. You're not exactly the type to go out wearing things that don't include boyish styled things."

Noel grabs onto my arm, "Does that really matter, Alison?"

She looks above my head and smiles at him, "No, of course not."

"Then what's your point?"

"That I'm happy she is out and looks cute."

"She always looks cute."

I smile a bit, getting a little hot from starting to blush. Then I feel him slip his hand between mine and I look up at him.

"Dance with me?" he asks.

I smile and nod, "Definitely."

For maybe twenty minutes me and Noel do everything we can not to run into Alison again. She really pissed him off this time as he could barely take his eyes off of her while we were dancing. I had to do a lot to keep him distracted. He really hated what she said to me, and I can't help but smile every time I think back to that conversation. He stood up for me, knowing that there's something she has on him. I mean, we all have something she has on us, but at least we are all starting to get to the point where we don't care and will deal with the problem when it comes.

He stops in the middle of our dance, going into his pocket. He takes out my cell and hands it to me. "Toby text you."

I grab it from him and it's nothing more than, "How's everything going?"

I just ignore it for now and ask him to put my phone back into his pocket. He smiles as he does, probably glad that I'm not ditching him for my best guy friend.

When I go to grab a drink from one of the tables as Noel heads to the bathroom I notice that someone in a white coat with the hood up walks into the enchanted forest section of the dance. I don't find that suspicious until Alison follows behind the person about a minute later. I debate whether to follow, until a hand goes to my shoulder and I turn around.

"Ezra." I say as my heart sinks.

He smiles, "You look beautiful, Jessie."

I half smiles, "Thanks."

His smile slowly fades, "I know you're still upset with me."

"What gave you that idea."

"Jessie, I'm sorry. I want to fix this."

"You can't fix this, Ezra." I shake my head, "You betrayed my trust by a lot. This was no small thing you did."

"I know that."

I take a deep breath, "I love you as if you were my own brother. But just because you saved those girls lives in New York and played the hero doesn't mean you should get a pass right away. Aria may have taken weeks to forgive you, but I'm not her."

He takes a deep breath and nods, "I'm still going to be there for you when you need me. That's never going to change."

"Ezra…"

"It doesn't matter that you hate me. I made a promise to myself and to you long ago that I was always going to do my best to protect you. So far I haven't been doing my job too well, but it doesn't mean I'm giving up on that."

He walks away, leaving me standing by myself in complete shock.


	71. Chapter 71

**Here you go everyone, another chapter.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **All belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Let me know what you think in a review!**

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Me and Noel call it quits on the dance. Having Alison walk around like she is on top of the world again is too much to handle. So I ask him to drop me off at my house to change before going to see Toby like I promised. When I walk out of my house the snow is coming down a bit heavier than when I got dropped off at my place earlier. But I don't hesitate to get in my car and drive over to Spencer's house.

I use the spare key that is under the mat at the back door when I get there, letting myself in. Then I head upstairs and find him in her room in his wheelchair by the window.

"Hey, Tobs."

He turns to me, his camera in his hands. "Hey." he smiles.

"Anything exciting?"

He shakes his head, "Just the news. The snow is going to turn into a blizzard."

"Oh, fantastic."

"At least it's going to be a white Christmas." He turns away and points his camera out the window, confusing me.

"Uh, Toby?" he turns around to me, "What the hell are you doing?"

He laughs as I get closer, "I told you I'm keeping an eye on Alison's place."

"With a camera?"

"With a camera that zooms in by a lot." he hands it to me and tells me what button to presses to show how much the zoom can go.

I'm impressed by it until I notice that the zoom lands on Hanna, "Toby." I pull my eye away from the hole, "What is Hanna doing there?"

He takes his camera away and gives me a guilty face. "Spencer and Hanna are snooping around."

I give him a look, "You did not just say that."

"Well…"

"Toby, when you said watching the house that's all I thought you meant. Not watching _them_ in the house to make sure they're okay. You know I want nothing to do with stuff like this anymore."

"I know."

"So?"

"So, I didn't think you'd catch one of them in the house."

I roll my eyes, "You are all a piece of work."

"I'm sorry."

I take a breath, "Oh well." I grab a chess board out of my backpack that I brought, thinking that this would be a good idea for an hangout session. "Now that I'm here I'm keeping you busy."

He laughs, "I can multitask."

I'm sitting on the floor for a while as we play. My thoughts trying to stay on this and not on the fact that the girls are being their usual self next door. Then sometime later Toby stares away from the game for the millionth time and looks into his camera. He's like this for a few seconds, then gets a phonecall. As he grabs his phone he tells me what move he wants to make, so I move his piece on the board and then hear his voice as he asks whoever is on the line what's wrong.

"Damn it."

"What is it?" I ask when he hangs up.

He doesn't answer me though as he looks back into his camera, "Hanna, you have to get out of there." he whispers to himself.

"Toby, what is going on?"

"Alison left the party." My heart sinks, but I'm not able to get anything out as his his eyes bug out when he pulls away from the camera again. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"Someone else is in there, wearing a black hoodie. But I can't see the girls."

My eyes widen now, getting to my feet. "I'll be right back." I turn around and bolt out of the room.

"Jessie, wait!"

I run down the steps to her house, haul ass to the back door and get as fast as I can through the piled up snow in her backyard and run across to Alison's yard next door. I squeeze through a space that divides their houses and sneak to the backdoor. It's a little cracked so I slowly push it with my finger to open it up more and see nothing but darkness.

"Guys?" I whisper as I start to realize that the place is more quiet than I was hoping for as I take a deep breath, my heart racing fast against my chest.

I walk through the door, shaking off the snow from the hood of my Rosewood basketball hoodie as I pull it away from my head. Then I wipe off my glasses as they start to fog up from walking into the warmth of her house and tiptoe through it, trying not to make a sound. I've never been in here before. Alison's house was always an off limits things for anyone who wasn't her friend. I bet it looks nice during the day, but at night it's for sure creepy.

Now when I get into the living room I notice that someone is bent down behind one of the sofa's. I squint through the darkness and noticed that it's Spencer, a scared look in her eyes when she sees me.

"Spence?"

" _A_ is here." She whispers when I walk closer to her and help her up from the floor, "Hanna left her phone."

I watch her walk over to the other sofa to grab a phone. She's still in her Iceball gown, which means this is where they took off to when they left. Once she grabs it she heads to the window, holding both her phone and Hanna's up. I think she's getting Toby's attention.

"Where did she go?"

She turns around to me, "I think she went upstairs."

"Okay, then we have to search every room. This house is pretty big."

She shakes her head, "Go home, Jessie. What are you even doing here?"

"I went to hang with Toby when I got bored of the dance. I already know what's going on."

She watches me for a few seconds, then walks over to some of the pictures on one of the stands in the room. She grabs a picture frame and breaks it, taking a piece of the glass."

"What the hell, Spencer."

" _A_ has a knife. Can't take any chances."

We both get to the stairs and I tell her that I'll double check down here while she goes upstairs. She hates the idea but doesn't argue. So I head to the kitchen to grab a knife, mostly because it seems more powerful than a small piece of picture glass.

As I walk into each room I make sure I take small and slow steps, trying to check every angle. But everything is so dark that it's hard to see in the shadows, which totally freaks me out. Then I'm passing the living room again and notice that a dark figure walks out into the hallway, making my heart sink. That's when they notice me and take off my way at a run.

My heart's racing as I back up to leave but bump into the wall behind me. Then this person dead stops in front me, having to look down a bit from a slight height difference. I can't see this person's face, but they are just staring at me, and I can just make out their breathing being heavily out of breath. My fear gets the best of me, because I can't move and can't talk, I'm frozen from being too scared. But both of us are just watching each other for the longest time and for some reason isn't doing anything to me. This is not like how Mona was when she was _A_ at all, and not like the _A_ that they have been dealing with all this time. The _A_ we know would have tried to kill me in an instant for spotting them. There is something wrong with this picture.

Then it's like my senses come back to me. My heart is still racing so fast I can feel it about to explode out of my chest, but now I'm aware that I need to say something. "Spen…"

Now _A_ reacts and goes forward, shoving their gloved hand against my mouth and pins me up against the wall a bit more as the knife in my hand falls to the floor and gets pinned by their body. A flashback of Mona doing this same move after she tackled me to the ground that night comes, making my breath get caught so bad in my throat from fear that I feel like I'm going to suffocate.

"Shh." this sound comes from the other side of the hood, taking me off guard.

My breath comes back, but starts to pick up a bit. "Mm." I put my free hand onto their hand, trying to pull it off of me.

I still can't see their face, so I raise my hand up again to grab at the hood, but _A_ tries to maneuver their body in a way to keep me from doing this while seeming to be trying not to hurt me with the knife. Then noise comes from upstairs and scares me as _A_ turns their head to the steps. It's most likely Spencer looking for Hanna.

I take this as my opportunity to push with all my strength to _A's_ body, making him or her lose balance and topples backwards. "Spencer!"

 _A_ catches their footing and then runs off again as I head to the stairs. I can't believe that just happened

"Spencer!"

"Jessie?" I hear her voice from down the hall upstairs and I run that way, colliding with her when I storm into the room she's in. "Whoa, Jessie." she grabs onto me so I won't fall. "What happened."

" _A_ …" I take a deep breath, "I ran into _A_ downstairs."

Her eyes bug out, "What?"

I take another breath, shaking a bit.

"Hey." she rubs my arms, "Are you hurt?"

I shake my head, "No. But they could have, Spencer. That's what I don't get."

She lifts her eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean?"

" _A_ didn't even _try_ to attack me. There was a clear chance to, I was vulnerable." I shake my head in disbelief, "But they didn't bother to. It was like I took this person off guard, or they knew who I was and didn't want to hurt me."

She shakes her head, "That doesn't make sense, Jessie."

"It's what _happened_ , Spencer. The knife was right in this person's hand, but didn't try to use it."

She goes to say something, but then we notice a flashing of a light coming from outside the window to this room. I quickly realize that it's Alison's room as I watch Spencer head to the window. Then a loud scream comes seconds later, making my heart sink when I realize it's Hanna.

We both look at each other, Spencer bolting right passed me and out into the hallway. I follow behind her and head over to a door nearby that leads to the attic. When we get to the top she screams Hanna's name when she sees that she is lying unconscious on the floor, the window to the attic is open as if this person jumped out. So while she runs over to make sure Hanna is alright, I go to the window.

I poke my head out of it and notice a little roof space, there must have been something useable to climb down the edge. If it wasn't for the cold and how snowy it is out there I'd go onto the roof just to see if there is a path of sorts to see which way _A_ went.

"Jessie, lets get out of her."

I turn around and see Spencer helping Hanna to her feet. They both look terrified. "You okay, Han?"

She half smiles, holding her head for a second and then nods, "Yea."

When we get back downstairs I make sure I clean my prints off the knife and put it back where it was. Then we go outside, the snow making everything covered up in thick white coating. The roads are so covered that when I head to my car to go home it's already almost halfway buried in snow.

"Damn."

"You're going to have to sleep over, Jessie." Spencer tells me as they followed to make sure I got to it safely.

"I can dig it out."

"The roads aren't safe." Hanna gets in, "It hasn't even been plowed yet, and we can barely see a few feet in front of our own faces standing here."

I sigh, "Alright."

Little do I know that when I step into Spencer's house that the whole crew is going to be here. Emily is on the phone in the kitchen, Paige is sitting on the sofa, Caleb is on the sofa as well and gets up to walk over to Hanna. Then you have Toby on his wheelchair while Aria is sitting on the other sofa with Ezra standing above her. They are all watching the news.

I have no problem being here, but I do have the problem with Ezra. He gives me eye contact and then shifts his eyes away awkwardly. Then Aria spots me and a smile comes on her face, getting up and walking over.

"Hey."

I half smile, " Hey."

"Heard you tried to be a hero again."

I slowly nod, "Still in my nature."

Since we aren't able to leave and spend time with our families as being snowed in at Spencer's (whose family is out of town) makes it impossible to get across town I try to play nice and get along. We talk about what happened at the house with _A_ , including what I witnessed. Then how Hanna found in Ali's attic a letter written by Bethany Young to Alison. This is evidence enough to know that Alison somehow was connected to her in some way and can hopefully clear Spencer of the charges that Alison pinned against her.

"Jessie."

I turn to the side as Paige switches spots with Em to sit beside me when the others start to get into their own conversation now. I'm trying to pay attention, but at the same time I don't because I'm afraid that after tonight I'm going to get sucked into all this mess again.

"You okay?"

I half smile as I turn to the TV. It's giving The Christmas Story, "Not really."

"It's a lot to grasp."

"I'm used to all this crazy shit, Paige. But I don't get how we are all expecting _A_ to be violent and murderous this person barely put a hand on me more than to make sure I didn't scream. It doesn't add up."

"You're sure they didn't try to harm you?"

I nod, "I'm _positive_. There was a knife and yet didn't use it. Can't make something like that up when I'm perfectly fine." It gets quiet for awhile, she looks really distracted now. "What's up?"

She takes a breath, looking over at Em. "My parents want me to move to California."

My eyebrows go up, "Are you joking?"

She shakes her head, her eyes watering a little. "Not at all."

"Does Em know?"

"Not yet."

Spencer lends us all PJ's for the night, falling asleep on the floor in Spencer's room. Then the next morning I get forced awake by all four girls and Paige as they jump on top of me in a fun gesture.

"Hey!" I laugh, "Guys, knock it off."

"It's Christmas!" they all yell.

I rub my eyes and smile at all of them, kind of happy that mother nature made the choice to have me spend my Christmas with them.


	72. Chapter 72

**Hey guys! Hope your New Years Eve is going well.**

 **Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please leave a review!**

* * *

New Years Eve rolls around and I got invited to Noel's cabin with him and his family. Yea, definitely a new experience, but his parents at least seem to like me as the ride to the cabin wasn't as awkward as I thought it might be. They kept a conversation going the whole time there, which made me feel better about spending the day with them.

I find out that all the Kahns have the sweet spot for parties, because it turns out that we aren't the only ones who end up at the cabin. A handful of people show up a half hour later to join us, some of his parents friends to be more specific. When they walk through the door it makes us leave the first floor and head to the basement to hang out on our own.

Then Eric's friends all of a sudden come around not too long later. "Let's get this party started!" his friend Randy yells when he gets to the basement with some of their other friends right behind.

Me, Noel and Eric were playing a two on one game of pool. But that goes out the window when we notice that he brought a keg of beer.

At first I'm feeling out of place with it being just really Noel that I know, because once Eric has his friends around he acts like he doesn't know who we are sometimes. So I'm drinking a beer while sitting on Noel's lap and watching the older kids play a game of beer pong, wishing that I thought more about coming. I hung out with some of the before, but I still feel weird.

Then Sean shows up with Piper, Ben and Kaitlyn and my excitement gets high. Ben is still on my iffy side considering that he tried to hurt Em last year, but I can't really do much about it at this point.

"Now the party can begin." Noel says with a smile as he kisses me on the cheek and has me get off of him so we can greet them.

I follow behind him, smiling at Kaitlyn and Piper, happy that I'm not the only girl from our grade here. "Hey."

They both smile, "Boring without us, huh?" Kaitlyn says.

I laugh and nod, "Completely."

"Noel!" Eric yells, "Grab a friend and play against me and Randy."

He slightly smiles at his brother, "Gotcha." he turns around, "Who wants to play?"

Normally I'd be the first one to raise my hand, but I'm not really in the mood to play. So Ben says he'll go and follows him to the pong table. Kaitlyn loops her arm between mine and drags me off to sit on the sofa to watch them.

Ten minutes till midnight and I am now feeling pretty good. I had a good amount of beer to be able to interact with all of Eric's friends without second guessing myself. They all seem to think I'm cool and are impressed when I finally decide to play beer pong, getting at least every other shot I take.

"Everyone upstairs!" Noel's dad yells sometime later, "Countdown is starting!"

So Noel grabs both of my hands and pulls me up towards him. He smiles at me as he wraps an arm around my back and helps me climb the stairs. I hope his parents don't notice that I'm totally wasted.

"You're cute when you drink, you know that?"

I laugh, "I'm ridiculously embarrassing. I don't know what you're seeing."

"It's just your way to relax. You aren't embarrassing at all."

We get to the top and walk over to the living room, the flat screen on one the the channels for the ball drop.

"Five!" all the adults start to yell.

"Four!" we join in.

"Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!"

He looks down at me and kisses me, full make out session in front of everyone and it doesn't even bother me. It makes my stomach tingle in butterflies as I wrap my arms around his neck and he lifts me off my feet to be closer to him. We pull our faces away, still being lifted up in his arms and see the blue eyes I love to stare at.

"You're beautiful."

I start to blush and he leans in again, everyone seeming to disappear.

A couple hours later after everyone is sobered up we head home. His parents drop me off at my place and I head straight to bed. I have no problem falling asleep, it's staying asleep. This is the worst part of the night as I have a nightmare about Mona. She's buried alive in a coffin, banging on the top and yelling for help. She's crying and helpless as she is suffocating from lack of air.

Then a voice that doesn't sound like anyone in particular is laughing and talking to her, the voice echoing around her. The voice is telling her she deserves this after all she's done, that now she knows how others felt being trapped with nowhere to go and feeling as if going to die. I can't help but think of myself when that's said.

"Mona!" I yell in fear as I wake up in a sweat.

I look around out of breath, the light from the hallway is leaking into my room. I can't breathe as panic swarms me, gripping onto my sheets in pain from my chest being on fire. That was one of the worst nightmares I've had in awhile.

My first instinct when I relax enough is to grab my phone and call Aria. When she answers she sounds exhausted.

"Ria." My voice cracks as I say her name.

She yawns, "Jessie, it's five in the morning."

"I-I know, it's just…" I can't finish the sentence as my throat closes up from trying not to cry.

"Jessie?"

I take a deep breath, but I can't get anything out.

"Jessie, what's wrong?"

I take another breath, "I had a nightmare...a-about Mona. Sh-She was suffocating."

"Okay, you need to breathe. Deep breaths."

I take one, closing my eyes at the same time. "She was all alone."

Now she tries to relax me by telling me a story, anything to distract me. The same way she always did every time my PTSD used to kick in after Mona took me. It always helped me fall asleep.

Another month comes and goes, now being February. Mona is still missing, Alison is still an ass and school still sucks. Nothing has really changed besides that me and the girls are building up our friendships again, or at least trying to. As for me and Noel, going strong as ever.

Tonight we are going out to see a movie and then he wants to make me dinner back at my place. He is pretty romantic, and not many people know that about him. He likes to play the tough guy act while at school, but with me he is so the opposite it amazes me. I hate that the girls still don't like him, but all of my other friends see the same things I do. As long as I have people who know him like I do than everything is perfectly fine.

Before all that I'm sitting in ceramics class, drawing another new idea I have for my piece when Annabeth grabs my arm in excitement. I turn to as I slightly jump from her all of a sudden doing this and stare at her.

"What is it?"

"I just got asked out."

I smile, "By who?" I look down at my drawing.

"Billy Ryan."

I slowly stare up at her, my face dropping. "Seriously?"

She smiles and nods, "Yep."

"He's like, the best guy on the soccer team."

"I know!"

I laugh, "I didn't even know you liked him."

"I have been very mellowed out about it, but I've had my eyes on him for awhile."

"You're turning red."

She gets shy all of a sudden as she looks back at her phone, "Shut up."

After school I open up the store for a couple hours before heading back to my place. I get ready for my date with Noel and then an hour later he's picking me up for the movie.

"This was a great day." I tell him when we get onto the sofa to watch TV after cleaning up from dinner.

He plops down and stretches his arm out for me to lay against him. "I agree."

I smile as he kisses me on the head, closing my eyes to his touch. "Stay over?"

He wraps his arms tight around me from behind, "Your wish is my command."

I wined up falling asleep on him halfway through watching a new episode of Dancing with the Stars. Which he swears he's a good dancer and is gonna be famous one day to get on it. I'll hold him to that.

When I wake up it's to the feeling of being set down onto the softness of my bed, his body coming close to mine a second later as he gets under the covers and his thumb rubs my cheek. I slowly open my eyes when he kisses me on the forehead.

He's smiling at me as his head is laying on his hand with his elbow resting up on the pillow. "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up."

I yawn and smile, "It's okay. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

He grabs my hand, rubbing it with his finger. "It's okay. It was a long day."

I take a deep breath and crawl closer to him, laying my head on his chest as he places his arm around me, tickling my back with his fingers.

We are like this for awhile. I hear his breathing as his stomach goes up and down. The comfort of having him here feels so normal. Then he kisses me on the head, making me look up at him.

"What are you thinking?" he asks me.

I smile, "About you."

"Oh yea?"

I nod, "Yea." then I put my hand to his head and bring him to me, kissing him.

The butterflies in my stomach get bigger, all my tiredness going away at once. He grabs onto my face with his hand and roughly kisses me back. I roll my body on top of his as he sits up a little and presses my body to him with both his hands. He kisses my neck, my cheek then my lips. He brings his hands to the bottom of my back and slides his hands under my shirt, his cold hands giving me goosebumps. Then he brings his hands back out and slowly pulls up my shirt.

I pull away from him for a second, watching him as he opens his eyes. "You okay?" he asks out of breath.

I smile, nodding. "Perfect."

I lean back in and kiss him, allowing him to take off my shirt. He brings his lips to my neck and then kisses my chest as he snaps off my bra. Lets just say that this turns into a night that I'd never thought I would ever consider to happen in my high school years.

The next morning I wake up to him right beside me. He's still asleep, and looks absolutely adorable. I look to the side and see my clothes on the floor beside me, so I slowly get up with a blanket wrapped around me to grab my stuff and toss them into the hamper. Then I grab some clothes for school and head into the hall to get to the bathroom.

I look at myself in the mirror, a giant smile on my face. I can't believe I lost it. Me? Of all people to do something as crazy as this before even stepping into college is so not something I'd normally do.

I take a deep breath and then notice a bruise on my collarbone. No, not a bruise...a hickey! Oh crap.

I walk out of the bathroom when I'm done showering and getting ready, head back to my room to find Noel isn't there. When I walk back into the hall I see him sitting in the kitchen, the smell of coffee being made.

"Morning."

I smile at him, walk over and kiss him. "Goodmorning."

"What a night."

I smile and nod, "Definitely took me off guard."

"It was amazing."

I start to blush, because I know that he's lost it already and the fact that someone who has never done more than kiss someone was amazing is not what I was expecting. "I agree."

He smiles and pulls me to him, kissing me longer. Then he looks me in the eyes when he pulls away and rubs my face, "I can't beleive that was your first time."

"And I can't believe it was with the hottest guy in school."

"Oh, stop." now he starts to turn red.

"Is Noel Kahn embarrassed?"

"Me? What? No!"

I laugh and kiss him on the cheek. "You're cute."

He laughs, "Well I'm gonna head home to change and grab my school stuff. I'll see you later." he grabs my chin and brings me to him, kissing me on the lips. Then he gets up and goes to the door, watching him with a bright smile on my face. This is crazy.


	73. Chapter 73

**Hello Liars. Here you go, another chapter.**

 **Please leave a review!**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

It's now March. Three months has passed and Mona has still not been found as it's the day before her funeral. Things have been a bit hard to concentrate on as the funeral date got closer and closer. School has been going down the drain with my grades, softball has been a complete disaster and the store hasn't been open in a week. I don't know who's feeling worse about all this, me or Mike.

My question gets answered when I see Mike lying on his bed in a depressed state when I walk into his room. Uncle Byron begged me to come over and talk to him because for the last week he has barely come out of his room.

"Mikey?"

He's rolled on his side, watching his wall in a daze. "Go away, Jessie."

"You know I can't do that." I close his door and then sit down beside him, putting my hand on his arm, "Talk to me."

"She's really dead."

I take a deep breath, "I'm sorry, Mike."

"I was hoping I was wrong about _A_." I can hear him trying to hold back his tears.

"I know. Me too."

He slowly turns around, "I've been thinking. The _A_ you told me about that saw you doesn't sound like someone who would kill. What if that wasn't who you thought it was."

"The girls think that person was Ali, and that she killed her."

"What do you think."

"That _A_ had something to do with killing Mona and that was him or her that night."

He slowly nods, " _A_ isn't the type to be nice enough to be seen and not do something about it though. The fact that _A_ gave you a pass doesn't seem normal."

I nod, "There had to be a reason why A would go after her compared to me just standing in the middle of a hallway and not attack me."

Mona's funeral is one of the hardest things I have to go through in my life. First it was my parent's and brother's, almost losing myself in the process, and now I have to watch as someone that hadn't even graduated yet is going to be buried. It reminds me so much of my brother being gone at the age of fourteen. It isn't fair. Then to know she is being buried with her body not in the casket isn't something I can fully grasp.

I sit with Mike because he practically begs me to be there with him as he sits with Mona's family. I feel out of place for that, but I do because he looks like he's ready to lose it without holding onto my hand the whole time in comfort. He had to carry the casket into the church and will have to carry it out too. That has to be a lot to weigh on him, carrying the casket of his own girlfriend.

Once it's done I allow everyone to leave before I do, trying to hold myself together long enough to be able to get in front of people again. I look to the side and stare at the picture they chose of Mona, her happy face smiling at me. I can still hear her voice in my mind, her laugh. It's weird how she still had an impact on me with our complicated friendship.

"Jessie?"

I hear a deep voice come from behind me and turn away from the alter. Ezra is standing halfway down the aisle, watching me with a sad look. At first he doesn't seem to know what to do when I don't answer him, but then he takes a couple steps closer to me before stopping in caution. When he sees I don't react badly he walks the rest of the way and hugs me.

I feel all the stress leave me as I wrap my arms around his body, laying my head on his chest and let out my sobs that I held in through the whole ceremony for Mike's sake. Being mad at Ezra isn't even in my mind anymore, because this feels right. The big brother feeling that always comes from him is what I need right now.

"You're okay." I feel him take a deep breath, "I got you."

I hold onto him tighter, not wanting him to let go. I realize that I can't take him for granted, because he can be gone in an instant too. I don't want to waste my energy and time being mad at people when what happened to Mona and my family can happen to anyone else I care about. I don't want to regret that type of decision.

Once he calms me down he walks me outside the church and down the steps. I'm holding onto his arm the whole time, afraid that I'll faint from the shock of everything sinking in the more I'm here. But that leaves my mind for a second when I hear the loud sound of a _smack_ and someone yelling. I look to the side where Mona's mom is and see Alison standing there with her hand holding onto her face. What the hell just happened?

"Come on." Ezra tells me, pulling me away from the chaos and to his car.

I have to lean up against it, trying to block out my thoughts right now. But it's not working as my mind races, _Mona's dead, we are going to bury an empty coffin. Mike isn't going to be able to handle this, and I can't help him. I can't handle this._ Mona's _dead_.

"Hey." I feel him lift up my chin with his fingers to look up from the ground and to his eyes, "Breathe."

I'm trying not to freak out as it gets harder for me to do that, "Mona's dead."

He gives me a sad look, "I know."

"She's dead, Ezra."

"Jessie... _breathe_."

" _A_ killed her." I look away, and stare at Toby and the girls over by the stairs of the church. "If _A_ can do that with someone they were working with what makes us think we are safe."

"Jessie!" he half yells, making me jump as he puts his hands onto both sides of my face to look at him. "You need to calm down. I can see your eyes dimming out, like you are about to have a panic attack."

I grab onto his forearms with both of my hands, taking deep breaths as I stare up at him. "I want to go home."

He nods, "I think that's a good idea."

I'm at my apartment almost all day laying on the sofa, trying to keep myself as busy as possible. Another day goes by where I don't bother to open up the store, because right now I'm not in the mood to deal with people. So as I'm watching the movie Cheaper by the Dozen a knock comes to my door, I just want to be left alone.

I slowly get up when the knock comes again and walk over to the door, peeking my eyes through the crack from opening it a bit. I've become pretty paranoid.

"Caleb." I open the door more, "Hey."

He half smiles, "Ezra told me that you're not doing so well."

I half smile, letting him inside. "Oh."

"I'll take the _oh_ as a confirmation of the correct information given to me."

I close the door and walk over to the living room, sitting on the sofa as he follows me. "Why would Ezra tell you that."

" 'Cause I was checking out the progress he's been doing on the Brew and he told me what happened today."

Since Zack did what he did to Aunt Ella he ended up selling the Brew. So Ezra took it upon himself to buy it. He wants to make it into a coffee/book store hang out. The writer/teacher became an investor for a coffee shop. Who would have thought.

I half smile, "I'm dealing."

"Dealing and accepting are two different things."

"I need to process it before I can accept it, Caleb. For three months I barely had time to think about Mona with all of you making me panicked that Alison is _A_."

He gives me a sad look, "Well if she is _A_ , then killing Mona is the lowest things she's done. And she may get worse."

"And what do you want from me? I don't need to be next on her hit list."

He shifts his eyes away from mine, then pulls something out from behind his back that I didn't even notice he had in the first place. "How about opening these and telling me if you gotten into college?"

I stare at what look like a package and envelope in his hands, completely confused. "What?"

"These were peaking out of your mailbox downstairs, so I grabbed them for you."

I'm a little confused, "But all of my college applications were under the Montgomery address."

He shrugs, "Maybe one of them dropped them off." he puts his hand closer to me, "Come on. Let's see which school was smart enough to let you in."

I laugh, grabbing them from him. The first one has NYU written and the other is Hollis College. I only applied to three, so Kean University hasn't answered yet.

I take a deep breath and slowly open up the package from Hollis and pull out a letter. I don't unfold it right away, but then I do and read to myself, _We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted to Hollis College._ The rest I don't bother reading as I smile and look at him, this wasn't my first choice but it doesn't keep me from being excited. I mean, me? The one with the only hope of getting into school was based off of scholarships from sports got into a school with just my grades. I mean, my softball season started, but no scouts has bothered to give me a heads up for school recommendations yet. The fact that I got this all by myself makes it all the better.

He has a smile on his face, "You got in."

I nod, "I got in!"

He hugs me as I lean forward, "Great job. I knew you could do it."

I pull away from him, "I can't believe I got in."

"You always underestimate yourself."

"My grades aren't good enough for colleges."

"Clearly not." he points to it, "Because you just beat those odds."

I smile, then grab the envelope from NYU. I already know what's coming since it's smaller packaging than the last. So when I see the been rejected part of the letter I'm a little bummed out, but at the same time I know I was expecting a bit too much from a really good school in New York.

The next day crazy news after all this time of Spencer being out on bail that Bethany's parents might have found a way to get her bail thrown out so that she can stay in jail till a trial starts circulates around town. For some reason the letter Hanna found isn't being used because Holbrook thinks that Spencer herself may have forged it. And they can't go to Tanner because Toby says that she needs to figure this out without any of them interfering and making it worse for Spencer. They think that Holbrook and Alison have been a thing this whole time and he's trying to protect her by throwing out the evidence. What is with older guys going after teenagers?

I hear a banging sound from someone hitting the door to my place just as my phone is ringing at the same time on my nightstand, "Hello?" I answer my phone to Aria's call as I wake up from a nap.

"Open your door." she sounds panicked, her breathing heavy.

"What?"

"Jessie, open the freaking door!"

I get my legs over my bed, "Okay, relax." I shuffle over to the door and open it, Aria bursting her way through. "What the hell is wrong with you."

" _A_ just ambushed me at the Brew."

My eyes bug out, " _What_?"

"Mike told me to pick him up. He was helping Ezra build shelves, but when I got there no one was inside. _A_ set me up."

I put my hand up to stop her, completely confused and still slightly half asleep. "Why would _A_ go through all that to ambush you at the Brew?"

"Caleb lent me Mona's laptop and _A_ stole it."

"And that laptop had information about _A_."

She nods, "Yea, exactly."

She looks a little shaken up so I pull her into a hug, "Were you hurt?"

She shakes her head, "No." she pulls away, "But I think it was Ali."

I take a deep breath, "Did you see her or are you guessing."

"She killed Mona, Jessie. She has to be _A_."

"Aria…"

"Don't tell me you don't believe she's behind this. Of all people to stand up for her."

"I'm so not on the Alison sympathy train, Ria. But you need to be sure before you ruin her life."

Her life being ruined is exactly what happens, because two hours later I'm getting a visit from Mike, telling me that Alison was arrested for Mona's murder. Whether the girls had anything to do with that is beyond me, but it wouldn't shock me if it was.

"Holy shit."

"You know what I said when Aria told me?" he asks as he sits at the end of my bed, watching me with his blue eyes.

"No…"

"I said _okay_. As if I didn't care."

"Oh, Mikey."

"How else am I supposed to react, Jessie? I knew this was going to happen. This was part of Mona's plan and clearly _A_ is going through with it. It's not like I can tell them that."

"But you can. I don't see why you hid it from them for this long, especially since you feel like Mona is the one not doing all this."

"Because what if it happens to be that she is alive and her plan just got screwed up enough not to be able to reach out?"

I shake my head, "She wouldn't put you through this for four months, Mikey."

He takes a breath, "But what if that's what happened. I can't put her in danger by telling them."

"And if you keep it to yourself any longer you'll be risking all of our lives."

His eyes start to water. For the first time I'm seeing him show emotion. "I had a heart to heart with her after though." he looks away from me.

I try to smile, trying not to lose myself from the look on his face. "What did you guys talk about?"

"Mona."

I watch him, waiting for him to open up.

He takes a breath, "How sick I am of everyone pretending like they knew Mona. No one understood her. No one cared for her until she went missing." he looks at me, "You didn't even like her before Alison came home."

I give him a sad look, "You know what she put me through."

He nods, "I know. And I wish she could have taken that back. It's not the real her."

I slowly nod, "I gave her a chance when you guys started dating, Mikey. She eventually grew on me. That helped our friendship grow and were able to confide in each other when all hell broke loose with Alison."

"Aria wants me to come to her one day and talk to her about who Mona really was. Not the other half that she knew before she went to Radley."

I slightly smile, "I think that's a really good idea."

He takes a deep breath, looking back down as he puts the palms of his hands to his eyes and starts to cry.

My eyes tear up so bad that I can't hold them in anymore. Then I crawl closer and pull him to me, cradling him in my arms as his body gives out and he lays on his side on me. Now we are both bawling as I rock in place to comfort us both.


	74. Chapter 74

**Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**

 **I do not own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Two weeks later and other than Alison being sent to jail and Spencer being dropped of her charges, not much has happened. Which is a major step up for this town. Whether Alison was actually _A_ or not still isn't a clear thing. They think she was and had someone backing her up because there are signs of it, but at this point who knows.

After school today Aria ambushes me at my locker completely freaked out. "Did you hear back from any colleges?" that is not the type of question I was expecting from how she's acting.

I was sticking a piece of gum into my mouth just before she came over here, so now I gotta wait till it's chewed down to answer. "Yea, two out of three. Why?" Yes, I did infact get into Kean University, my first choice to get out of this town.

She gives me a confused look, "You only applied to three?"

I give her an annoyed look, "Is there a point to your first question."

"Jessie, you should have more backups than that."

I turn around and open my locker, "Ria, if you start to lecture me about college I'm going to hit you."

She half smiles, knowing that I've always hated the whole school thing to begin with and applying to colleges was not my favorite thing to do. "Sorry. But yes, my point was that I applied to six and got rejected by five and wait listed by another."

"Being wait listed isn't a bad thing. School isn't even over yet."

"Jessie, that's not the point. Schools aren't even bothering to look me over enough to accept me."

"You just need to relax. It's not the end of the world if you don't go to school right away."

"Easy for you to say when you got into two and set enough to pick either or."

I half laugh, "I don't even like school, why I'm bothering to go at all when I have a good job doesn't make any sense to me."

"Because you are worth so much more than working at your dad's store for the rest of your life, Jessie."

I shake my head, "I like working at the store, Ria. What else do you expect for me to do?"

"You can do whatever you put your mind to."

I half laugh, "It doesn't matter anyway. I can't close the store for that long every year if I go to New Jersey for Kean University."

"Hire someone to help you while you pursue your dream."

"My dream was to go pro. As as we all know that went out the window as soon as I got kicked off basketball. Coach Stuart (formerly Marks) doesn't even trust me on the field anymore because of what happened with my last sport."

"That's not true."

"Totally is. I play three innings at most and then get replaced. I'm a senior in varsity. I'm not supposed to be sitting out after three freaking innings out of six."

"You can still play sports in college, Jessie. Don't give up if that's what you want."

Tonight is Ezra's grand opening for the new version of the Brew. I told him I'd do my best to pass by, but tonight I'm taking the day to go over some things I got in the mail for the process of getting myself emancipated. Yea, after three months of living under my own roof I talked to Uncle Byron and Aunt Ella at the end of February and they gave me the okay to do this. So the final papers came in the mail today to sign from both myself and them. So I plan to pass by to meet them at Uncle Byron's house before I do anything else.

That goes out the window fast though. As I leave my apartment tonight and head downstairs to my car I hear some yelling coming from down the block. I look away from my drivers side door before I can get it open and notice that Spencer and Toby are in a heated arguement.

"There are things I can't know!" Toby screams, "Things you can't say out loud to me!"

I have never in my life heard him yell at someone like that, let alone her of all people. Then he takes off.

For a few seconds I stand in this spot, waiting to see if I should go over there. Then I finally get the courage and walk over to her. She is starring in the direction he stormed away, sniffling as if she's crying.

"Spence?"

She slowly turns to me, her eyes watering and tears going down her face. "Jessie."

I give her a sad look, "What happened?"

She inhales deeply, wiping away the tears. "He became a cop. That's what happened."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what? That everything bad that happens to me that he needs to know I can't say because it's giving him too much information that he'd need to tell his fellow cops about? That now I can't talk to my own boyfriend about _A_ or Alison because he's more worried about his job than his girlfriend?"

"That's not true."

"Tell your best friend that, because that's exactly what just happened." then she turns around and walks away.

I don't really know what else to do, so I go back to my car and head to meet with my aunt and uncle.

The following day I'm on my board to head to school for softball practice when I notice that Ezra is on complete edge. He's pacing back and forth in front of the Brew on the phone. He looks a little pissed and yelling into his cell. Then he hangs up and walks inside, so I skate over and follow behind him.

Now he's talking to Aria, but gets interrupted by a phone call and walks into the kitchen. Aria catches Em's eyes and then goes after Ezra. So I walk over to ask Emily what's up.

"Owning a business is no easy job." she says as she is in the middle of working.

"Still can't believe he bought this place. He wanted to be a writer, not a business owner."

She walks over to someone's table and gives them a coffee, then runs back over to me. "I guess he just needed to do something different with his life. He stopped being a fulltime teacher when your aunt came home so she could get her spot back. So he needed to broaden his job options."

She looks above my head and I turn around, Aria walked out of the kitchen without Ezra. Her face does not look good. "Are they fighting too?" I turn back to Em.

She shakes her head, taking a breath. " _A_ has something on Aria for a stupid thing she did about college. She may need to talk."

Turns out that this talk is longer than I planned and makes me late for practice. She sent a email to the person in charge for the school she was wait listed to. The email was a bit too honest on why she thought she should be accepted and not on that list. Now _A_ is holding it over her head because there's a part that included her saying she regrets getting into a relationship with Ezra and now she is trying to find a way to tell him before it gets out.

"Brant!" Mrs. Stuart yells at me when I walk onto the softball field late. "Where have you been?"

"Sorry I…"

"I don't want your excuses. Just get on the field."

"Yes, coach." I toss my stuff into the dugout and run over to first base, replacing my backup who is new to the team and looks really pissed that I even showed up at all.

After a few missed grounders and strikeouts I'm feeling really shitty about myself.

"Jessie." coach says as I'm grabbing my things. "Can we talk?"

I put my sports bag onto my shoulder, "Sure."

"What is going on? You were late and then distracted all day."

"It's just been rough lately."

She gives me a sad look, "Is this about Mona?"

I watch her for a second, messing around with the dirt with my foot. "It's a lot of things."

"I understand that losing a friend the way you did is a lot to get through. But can you use that anger you feel on the game? Don't let it bring you down."

I half smile and nod, "Gotcha."

When I get into my car bad news comes to my knowledge when Caleb calls to tell me that everyone really believes that Holbrook is helping Alison. That someone put Hanna's name on a storage space they found Mona's laptop at. That this storage has Mona's bloody clothing and possibly her dead body, which makes my skin crawl.

When I get home Mike ends up calling me. He's on the verge of needing to explode as his emotions about Mona kick in. The poor kid has so much built up anger and sadness that I don't interupt him once.

"I'm so close to telling Aria, Jessie."

"I really think you should." I tell him as I'm in the middle of ordering new stuff for the store.

"But what if she hates me?"

"She's not going to hate you, Mikey. You're trying to protect her."

He sighs, "I have to think this through."

"Don't take too long. It's getting harder and harder for me to lie to her about this."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Then something pops into my head, my mouth dropping in fear. "Mikey."

"Yea?"

"I-I think I fucked up."

"What?" He asks in confusion.

"The day of Mona's funerals. I didn't even notice this till now."

"Jessie, what are you talking about?" His voice is slightly higher and a bit panicked now.

I take a breath, "When Ezra was comforting me about Mona after the funeral, I accidently said something about her working with _A_."

"You did _what_?"

"I-I didn't mean to. It was in the heat of the moment. My emotions got high."

He takes a breath now, "What exactly did you say?"

"That if _A_ can kill someone they were working with what makes us think we are safe."

" _Jessie_."

"I'm sorry!"

We are both quiet for so long that I'm afraid he hung up on me. So I wait a bit more as my mind races.

Then as if I need to make a conversation as quickly as possible I'm all of a sudden spilling out. "I lost it to Noel."

The line is dead quiet for a good five seconds. Now I really think he hung up on me as I pull it away from my ear and check the screen. Nope, his name is still there.

"M-Mikey?"

"You had sex."

I cringe a bit at the word. It makes me feel uncomfortable talking about stuff like this out loud, especially with him.

"Uh...yea."

"With Noel?"

"Yes…"

"Wow."

I'm not sure if that's a good or bad wow. So I don't say anything.

"Congratulations, I thought you were doomed to be a virgin forever." He starts laughing.

"You are such an ass." I laugh along.

"Hey, you're like a non sexual person. You look away at the sex scenes when we watch movies."

"Oh, shut up."

"I'm sorry." he's laughing so hard that he sounds like he might pass out. "Noel's a good guy though. I'm glad it was with someone who isn't treating you badly."

"Thanks. But do me a favor and don't tell Ria."

"She doesn't know?"

"She isn't exactly a fan."

"Okay, promise." he gets quiet for a second, "But I'll kill him if he…"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

"Hurts you."

"Yep, you finished it."

After school the next day I find Aria, Emily and Spencer all walking into my store, scared looks on their faces.

I shake my head as I walk to the back of the store to my office. "No."

"Jessie, you don't even know what we are going to ask." Spencer says.

"You're going to ask me to go on another wild goose chase."

"It's not a chase if we already know what we are after." Emily adds.

I turn around to them, "Then what do you want?"

"Mona's laptop got moved out of the storage area." Spencer starts. "It was recently activated again and we think Hanna was stupid enough to try and go after it. Caleb most likely helped."

"Okay?"

"Can you just call her and see if she answers?" Aria asks, "She's ignoring the rest of us, and that's because she knows that we know about it and will try to stop her."

I sigh and grab my phone out of my pocket, sitting on the edge of my desk. I dial Hanna's number and put my cell to my ear. It rings three times and then goes to voicemail.

I take it away from my ear and then look at them, "She ignored my call."

"That was such a stupid thing for them to do." Spencer says as they all look at each other, seeming to be debating, "We have to go and get them."

Wanna hear something stupid? I followed them. Why? Because my protective instinct totally kicked in before I could stop myself. I told them I wasn't going to help, but here I am, acting instead of thinking.

I'm decently far away from them, but eventually it gets to the point where I know that they see I'm behind them because no other cars are here and it's the middle of the day. So at one point I'm getting a phone call from Aria, telling me that Spencer sees my car through the mirror and is asking what I'm doing.

"I gave in."

"You need to stop with the impulses."

"Says the one whose whole life for the past two years has been nothing but impulsive moves."

I follow them all the way till we get to what looks like an abandoned warehouse of some kind. Maybe an old factory. I'm hoping it's not haunted.

I get out of my car and walk over to them. They have a mix of being grateful and pissed that I came. But they don't bother to ambush me with disappointment as Spencer hands me a flashlight and head inside.

The place is cold, dirty and looks like it's been closed for hundreds of years. But I could definitely be over exaggeration on that last opinion.

"What is this place?" Emily asks as we get deeper into it.

"It looks like an old ice cream factory." Spencer answers.

We continue to walk, pointing out flashlights everywhere. I'm a little creeped out right now, wanting to turn on all the lights as I keep my pace with Aria.

"Why would Hanna and Caleb come all the way out here?" she asks from beside me.

I shrug as Emily says, "Because they knew no one else would."

"Well you were right. This was definitely a stupid idea of them to do."

A noise comes from behind us, like something fell and makes me jump. Then squeaking sounds that may be rats or mice.

"What was that?"

They all look at each other then start to walk towards it. This is such a typical scary movie move to do.

I don't move, "If there are spiders there I'm not going!"

"That's what you're worried about in a creepy place like this?" Emily says when she stands beside me, pulling me along. "Spiders?"

"Aria is afraid of mice." I add, trying to make a point that it's not such a stupid thing to be afraid of. Especially after what I went through with one last year.

Aria looks at me, "Their tails are nasty."

"And a spider's hairy legs and body are cringe worthy."

"Oh, you two are such babies." Spencer gets in

We walk a bit more towards where the noises were and come across a dead end with a door. "Hanna? Caleb?" Em half yells, all of us heading closer to the door. Spencer tries the handle and looks through a little window on it that's dark while Emily looks through a window to the left that is the same way. Then Aria tries another window on the opposite side. I get on my toes and try to look over Spencer's shoulder, holding up my flashlight, but nothing.

The wind starts to move things around, making my skin get goosebumps from being cold and scared. Then we walk away from the door and Aria asks where the tracker on Spencer's phone says the laptop is. Of course when she looks she tells us that she lost the signal from being in here. Again, typical scary movie vibe.

"I'm going to check the second floor." Emily says, then looks down at me. "Come with me?"

I take a deep breath and nod, "Sure." I look at the other two, "Please be careful." then I follow behind Em as she goes towards a set of stairs.

We head up the steps and come to the same type of area like how downstairs is. This whole factory is creepy with old machines that haven't been run in years.

"You really shouldn't have followed us."

I look at her, walking along with my flashlight pointing at shadowed areas. "Since when do you deny my help."

"Since we realized how much danger our lives have put you in from the time Mona took you till now."

"I'm old enough to make my own decisions."

"And spacing yourself for this long was probably the smartest thing you've done since we got you involved."

"Maybe, but I'm trying to figure out why A didn't try to kill me on Christmas Eve." I jump to a noise that comes from the stairs.

She puts her hand on my shoulder and makes me look at her, "This has nothing to do with that."

"Everything that includes an A search leads us closer to finding clues. Being here may be one of those clues for me to figure out why I'm still alive."

We head back downstairs, another noise coming. This time we go to it and when she pulls on a cover some boxes fall to the floor and a dead rat collapses to the ground.

She takes a deep breath after the clatter of boxes scares her and bends down to inspect what came out of it. Whatever she picks up says Freeze Dry Almonds, looking up at me.

I shrug, "It is an ice cream factory."

Then a loud alarm system goes off, turning on all the lights. We look at each other in confusion, this place was supposed to not be able to work anymore. So we start to walk and when we get around the corner we hear muffled screams, Aria and Spencer are locked in a seethrough freezer.

"Emily!"

"Jessie!"

My heart sinks, "Oh my God."

We both run over to the freezer and turn the wheel to open the door, but it won't move. They are both banging and pushing on the door from the inside but no use. So Emily runs to the side and tries to press on the buttons that control this machine, but nothing.

"Help!" they both yell.

"Em, what do we do?" my breathing starts to pick up in panic as I watch them both yell in desperation from the inside.

"Jessie!" Aria yells at me, "Jessie, get us out!"

I put my hands on the wheel again, trying to turn it. I don't know what to do, my best friends are about to get frozen to death. "Emily!" I yell at her and turn, "What do we do!"

She grabs something metal off the floor and hits it a few times to the electrical box with the machine's controls. The first time nothing happens, the second time it explodes and makes her go flying backwards.

"Em!" their screams get louder as Emily rolls onto her stomach and looks our way.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

She takes a deep breath and nods, getting to her knees.

I turn back to them and watch helplessly at them fall to the floor. The look in their eyes look like they gave up as they watch me and Emily in panic. "No!" I kneel down and bang on the door, "No!"

Aria looks at me, putting her hand on the door. I put my hand up and place it where hers is, tears sliding down my face as the door freezes over and can't see either of them anymore.

"Aria!" my heart sinks to my stomach, crying so bad that I'm starting to have a panic attack as I bang on the freezer.

Then the sound of metal comes and when I look I see that Em got to her feet and hit a frozen pipe to the machine as hard as she can with something big in her hands.

The pipe busts after a few attempts and I help her get the door open. Both girls crawl out of it, so cold they are shaking.

"Ria." I crawl over and grab onto her.

She looks at me and grabs me, holding on tight. "J-Jessie." she gets out from being too cold to speak.

"You're okay."

Emily hands me her jacket to put around Aria, then starts to warm up Spencer as much as she can. This has to have been the most terrifying thing to witness my friends go through.


	75. Chapter 75

**Hello Liars, hope everything is going well with everyone.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think of this chapter. Most appreciated.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **All credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Weeks pass and things once again spiraled. The cops found the barrel with what they think is Mona's remains and droplets of blood by it that matched Alison's. So now they have more evidence on her to keep her rotting in jail. Then Ezra broke up with Aria because when she finally told him what she did in that email he agreed that he did feel like he in fact ruined Aria's high school years by being with her. So he told her that she needs time to figure out what she wants, because college may be the place to broaden her life with someone better than him. She didn't see it that way at first, and I say at first because then she went and started hanging out quite frequently with Andrew for the last couple weeks. I didn't see anything wrong with that at first, until he pulls me aside after school and tells me that he likes her and kissed her the other night.

"You what?"

"I'm sorry, Jessie."

I shake my head, "Don't be sorry. You can like whoever you want. I just didn't realize you liked her."

"I didn't….at first. Then we started hanging out and it kind of took me off guard."

"Wow."

He seems to not know what to say at first, "I know I keep doing shady stuff with your friends. Spencer, I'll admit was just to make you jealous. But I actually really like Aria."

I half smile, nodding. "Then go for it."

His eyebrows go up, "Really?"

I nod, "Yea, totally."

In reality I'm a little pissed. Not because they like each other, but because my best friend didn't even bother to tell me that she kissed my ex-boyfriend. That is exactly what I tell her when I head to her house after softball.

"Don't tell me you're mad about this."

I watch her in disbelief, "Of course I am."

"Of me kissing your ex."

"No, that you didn't tell me. I shouldn't have heard it from him."

She watches me for a long time, her eyes getting a little mad. "Just like you should have told me about Noel?"

"Oh, Aria, come on! That's not the same thing."

"It is actually. Because technically, Noel is my ex-boyfriend and now you're dating him."

My heart sinks, completely not even noticing that till now. "That doesn't count."

"Oh no?"

I shake my head, "No. You only dated him because you were making Ezra jealous."

"He was still my boyfriend, because I actually did like him."

"And then you went crazy and thought he was _A_."

She inhales deeply in what feels like anger that I brought this up, "Yes, but once we figured out he wasn't _A_ then he just became an ass and threatened to tell Hackett about me and Ezra."

"He thought you were being forced!"

She just eyes me for a few seconds, "My point is that you're mad at me for being into your ex when you're _dating_ mine."

I take a deep breath, "So what? Is this payback?"

Her eyes sadden, "No. That's not what I meant."

"It feels like that's what you meant."

"I only said that because I wanted you to see that being mad about not knowing was the same thing with you not telling me." She sits down on her bed, grabbing my hand and forcing me to sit beside her. "I didn't mean to set you off about me liking Andrew. It was out of nowhere."

I nod, "Yea, I get what you mean."

She slightly smiles, "Well I'm glad you were able to find someone. Andrew broke your heart, and Blake scared you for what I thought was going be life. Looks like you managed to find the right guy after all."

I take a deep breath, with everything going on I never got the chance to tell her that I lost my virginity. "I need to tell you something."

"Okay?" she looks confused.

"I'm no longer a...ahhh. Virgin."

Her mouth slowly drops, her eyes widening. "W-What?"

I flinch from her tone, "Don't be mad that it was with Noel."

She watches me for a few seconds, then slightly smiles. "You lost it."

I half laugh, "Yea."

"You. The one who wanted to wait till at least college?"

I shift my eyes away in embarrassment, "Yes, Ria."

She starts to laugh, "Look at you."

I start turning red, "It kind of just happened."

She turns more on her bed and watches me for a few seconds, "How was he?"

" _Ria_."

"What? I'm curious."

I shake my head, "I never asked you how Ezra was."

"That's because he's practically your brother."

"And Noel is your ex."

"Exactly, I have the right to know."

I laugh, taking a breath. "Fine. He's...he's amazing. Not that I have anything to compare it to."

Now she starts to laugh, "You're cute."

"Oh stop."

She smiles, then the door slams from downstairs and Mike runs up. He sees me and walks in. "Hey, Jessie."

"Hey, Mikey."

"You got a minute? I need to talk to you."

I nod, "Yea, I'll be right there."

He smiles and then walks away.

"I'll…" Aria grabs onto my arm, making me look at her. "What?" her face looks scared.

"There's something going on with him."

I smile a bit, "He's a teenager, there's _always_ something going on with him."

She shakes her head, "No, not like that. He's been seeing Ali in jail. Holbrook is off the table of being Ali's second, but the girls are convinced that Mike might be it."

"What?" I ask confused. "They're nuts."

"He's defensive whenever I ask him about seeing her. And explodes about Mona."

"Of course he does. She was his girlfriend."

"Then what about Ali?"

"Just because he's seeing her doesn't mean anything, Aria. She killed his girlfriend. He probably needs closure."

"Jessie."

"No, I'm getting really tired of you guys changing _A_ suspects on me. It was bad enough you all thought it was Ezra, but Mike? Absolutely not."

And of course my reasoning is because I know the real reason why he's been acting weird. The whole Mona's plan thing has him really badly on edge, so the seeing Alison thing must be part of this.

Now can you believe that _A_ took things to a whole new level of crazy? Okay, maybe not as bad as killing Mona. Yea, the girls are finally convinced that Alison had nothing to do with it, that _A_ framed her. Which is going around because _A_ is ruining their lives by trying to plant evidence against all four of them to make it seem that they somehow were involved in helping Alison kill her. Hanna already got arrested for being framed for it, now it's only a matter of time before _A_ gets the rest of them too.

"Why didn't you tell me!" Aria yells.

I fell asleep a little earlier than I normally would from being dead exhausted from practice today, so her yelling at me is the first thing I hear when I pick up the phone sometime after twelve in the morning. "Tell you what?"

"That Mike knew that Alison was going to be sent to jail all this time because it was Mona's doing."

Now she gets my attention as I sit up in my bed, "What?"

"Don't play stupid, Jessie. He's been acting strange for weeks and you knew about it."

"No, I'm not shoving it aside. I was just shocked that he mentioned it."

"Only because I ambushed him about it the other day, then _A_ text me today saying that you knew and when I asked Mike he confirmed it. You shouldn't have kept this from me."

My heart sinks, " _A_ ratted me out?"

"That's not the point."

"That is a big deal, Aria. You trusted _A_."

"No, I trusted Mike to make sure I wasn't being played. _You should have told me_."

I take a breath, "It wasn't my secret to tell, Aria. I begged him to do it, but he needed to be sure that it wasn't Mona before he could say something."

"Yea, and now Alison knows and if she decides to she can throw him under the bus right along with the rest of us."

"Are you serious?"

"Does that surprise you? She is going to do anything to save her own ass, Jessie. She had no idea until we confronted her about it."

"The fact that you guys talk to her at all is what surprises me."

"We are just trying to save our lives."

"And in the processes setting yourself up."

"You have no right to lecture me right now."

"You woke me up in the middle of the night to talk and now you're shutting me out?"

She takes a breath, "Goodnight."

"Ari…" she hangs up, not giving me time to say anything else.

So as the days go by we find out a lot of things. It turns out that Alison's lawyer asked her to take a plea to pin this all on Hanna to make it seem like it was her idea so she could get less jail time. But to my surprise she decided not to take that plea against Hanna, so now she has to go through a trial.

During them though she has been getting her ass kicked by witnesses and evidence. To my surprise she never opened her mouth about Mike, which really shocked the hell out of me.

The last day of Alison's trial is today and her results should be coming at any moment. I'm waiting outside the courtroom to be one of the first people to know what the outcome is. I decided not to go inside since Alison is no friend of mine, but I agreed to at least be there to support the girls. Yes, my soft spot for those four are still there. I can't keep myself from bailing when they are at a time of need, especially when the results of Alison's trial could impact them on a bigger level.

What takes me off guard though is the doors flying open and watching the three girls walk out with a cop holding onto each of their arms. Their hands behind their backs in handcuffs. This is not good.

"Aria?" I say to myself, standing up in shock. I don't even know what to do as I watch the cops pull my friends along the hallway. Aria catches my eyes and I see her scared face, making my heart hurt. "Hey!"

All of the girls are now looking at me, and the cops also turn my way. Then I realize that Lieutenant Tanner is the last one to walk out. She smiles and looks at me, "Miss, Brant. How are you?"

I watch her in disbelief as I walk towards her. "How am I? You are taking my friends away."

"There is evidence of them helping Alison DiLaurentis murder Mona Vanderwaal."

I shake my head, "That can't be true. They wouldn't do that."

"Don't make it worse, Jessie." Spencer's voice echoes towards me as she passes me. She looks scared, but I hate how calm she is right now.

"Listen to Miss Hastings." Tanner says, making me turn back to her. "She knows what she is talking about." then she turns around and walks away.

"Ria!"

"Call mom and dad!"

I watch as they get pulled outside and disappear. I'm standing here by myself, no one else around. Not the boys and not the Montgomerys. No one thought it was their place to come to the trial to support Alison. I guess it's a good thing I decided to come after all, because I would have never seen them get arrested.

I run outside in a bit of panic, the fresh air helping me breath from my anxiety taking over. When I'm able to calm down I head down the steps of the courthouse and start to walk over to the inside parking lot next door.

I call Aunt Ella, "They took them!" I yell into the phone when she answers, "All three of them!"

"Jessie, calm down." she tells me, "What are you talking about?"

"The girls... _Aria_." I say, taking a deep breath. "Tanner arrested them for helping Alison kill Mona."

I hear her take a breath, but it sounds like it gets caught in her throat. "What?" she sounds far away as she says it.

"I don't know what the cops have on them, but it must not be good if they took them."

"Okay." she says, "Breathe...just relax." she takes a deep breath herself, "I'll call your uncle, we'll take care of it."

I hang up with her as I'm getting up to the second floor of the indoor parking lot. I walk a bit until I get to my car and slam the door shut behind me in frustration. I take a deep breath and then turn on my car, pulling out of my spot. I'm just getting over to the opening ramp to head down to the first floor when I see a car swerve to my side of the parking lot. I turn my wheel to the right, just avoiding a collision. But I don't have time to turn it back the other way as I am heading straight to the wall.

I feel my heart leap out of my chest and my life flashes before my eyes. All the good memories in my past coming to my brain in fast mode. Then I hit the wall so hard that I jerk forward, my head slamming into the wheel because for some reason the airbag doesn't go off. I black out for a second and then lift my head off the wheel, shaking my head to get my vision back.

I breathe a bit fast for comfort as I blink the black dots out of my eyes, adjusting my glasses when I feel them hanging from one ear and then lift my hand to my throbbing head. "Ow." I wince and pull my hand back down, blood is all over my fingers. Then massive amount of pain rockets through my forearm when I rest my hand onto my lap.

I slowly turn to the side and pull on the handle to open my door. I topple out and have a random limp from my leg that comes for just a second as I turn around in a circle, trying to see who hit me. No one else but me and what I realize is the car that swerved towards me is close by. A blond girl is running over in a panic.

"I'm so sorry!" she yells, getting to me. "I looked away for a second and the next thing I know I was in your lane. Are you okay?"

I watch her for a second a bit dazed, processing that I know who this girl is. "CeCe?"

Her eyebrows slant in confusion, then her eyes light up. "Jessie, right? Noel's girlfriend?"

I slowly nod, then realize something, "I thought you left the country?"

She nods, "I did. But when I found out that Ali got arrested I had to come back."

I take a breath, my mind not even paying attention to what she just told me as I say, "They...they took them."

"Who took who?" she asks in concern.

"My friends. The cops took them away." I get light headed and my eyes black out as I collapse.

"Whoa." she says, catching me and I wince in pain from my arm. "What's wrong?"

She helps me stand up straight as my eyes go back to normal. "My arm. And head. Hurts. A lot." I manage to get out in between breaths.

"I'm going to take you to the hospital. My phone broke. So I can't call myself." she helps me walk over to her car and gets me into the passenger seat. Then she puts her hands on her knees to look at me. "That cut on your head looks really bad." she puts her hand up and rubs my face to have me look at her, "Can I help with that?"

I take a deep breath, my chest hurting when I do as I nod.

She goes into her bag and pulls out a cloth, gently putting it onto the cut.

I wince from it, "Ow."

"Sorry. Hold onto it, okay?"

I nod, grabbing it from her and putting pressure to it. Then she closes the door and gets around to the driver's seat.

After a few minutes I realize I'm starting to see double, even hearing echoes.

"Don't worry, I got you." Cece's voice says, then everything goes black.


	76. Chapter 76

**Alright everyone, here you go.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not own PLL.**

 **All credit belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

 _I wake up on the floor of a cold place, computer screens on one side of the wall. It's a vibe of being in a security office. My head is pounding, blood on my clothes and my arm in a cast. It takes all my strength to sit up and at least sit against the wall for a few seconds before fully standing._

 _I look around a few times, trying to find some way out. Then I notice a metal door at the top of the staircase. When I get to it the door opens and a person in a black hoodie blocks my way. My brain echoes the word No when I realize who this is. How did this happen?_

 _One minute I'm backing up, scared that this person is going to hurt me when I know it's A. For a few seconds A is just pacing, watching me as if I'm an animal and is studying me. Then this person goes to a cabinet and pulls something out. I don't notice what it is until they turn back to me. It's rope._

 _The next thing I know I'm trying to take a swing because I have no other idea's. When I miss, A grabs onto me, forcing me to the floor in a swift motion. I all of a sudden can't breath, my head spinning from a throbbing pain. I feel so weak that I can't fight back well. This person is ten times stronger with the lack of breath I'm having as they tie me up, and then I black out from a panic attack._

A smell comes to my nose, jerking me awake from this crazy nightmare. It felt so real. As I open my eyes it's blurry, lifting my head off my chest as I see a dark figure kneeling in front of me. My eyes start to focus better and I notice this person is in black jeans, then a hand with black leather gloves is holding a smell stick that probably was what woke me up. From there I see a black sweater that leads to the head in a hood. The face area is dark enough that I can't see who it is.

My breathing gets a little heavy from seeing this person in front of me and start to look around. I'm sitting on the floor up against a wooden pole of the steps where the railing is being held up. My upper body is tied to that pole and see that my ankles are outstretched in front of me, tied together in rope as well. Then my hands are resting on my sides, not tied up but I realize that one of my forearms that goes all the way down to my hand from what is probably a broken wrist as well is wrapped in a cast. Crap, that _wasn't_ a dream. This can't be happening, not again.

I rack my brain for something that makes sense on how I ended up here. The last thing I remember is a car accident and CeCe driving me to the hospital, clearly I'm not in one.

"Who are you?" I of course know that it's _A_ , but I want to know who exactly this is. Not that I'm expecting an answer to be said obviously.

This person doesn't say anything, because _A_ never talks. But then all of a sudden they get out. "Your friendly neighbor _A_." which totally takes me off guard as my mouth drops a little.

For a few seconds I can't believe that this person actually spoke, then I try to figure out the voice. The problem is that I can't because it sounds like was altered in a way that sounded like a guy, but also a bit robotic at the same time. I think I'm going to stick with this person being a he for my benefit.

My anxiety it starting to kick in as I struggle a bit with the ropes holding down my arms, "Where am I? Where's CeCe?"

He watches me for a second and then gets up and turns around, walking over to the desk full of screens. "In a ditch somewhere."

This makes my heart sink, cuz now I'm starting to realize that maybe I won't get a pass this time around. I still have no idea why this moment would be different from the last, but I'm going to try to be as open minded as possible. "Cece's dead?"

"As for where you are." He ignores my question, "That is for me to know and for you to find out." He presses a button and all the screens go on at the same time. Then he turns around and walks back to me, placing my glasses onto my face. "Recognize anyone?"

Everything clears up at once and I stare at the screens, trying to process what is on them. "No." I look up at him and shake my head.

"You don't know your own friends?"

My heart sinks as I look back, squinting a bit. I don't know what he means until I realize that it's Aria standing in her room in an orange jumpsuit, which confuses me because she is supposed to be in jail. Then I see Spencer sitting on the floor of her room on another screen, Hanna in her's on the next, and then Emily.

"You…" I swallow hard, trying to keep down my urge to cry, "You have the girls."

"Yep." he walks back over to the screens and sits onto a stool, watching me. "There's someone else you haven't seemed to notice yet." he points at another screen now.

I follow his hand to it and see that there's a blond girl in a yellow blouse at the piano. "I know that top."

The doors open now to all of the girl's rooms, but the only one that doesn't is the door of whoever is at the piano. The other four girls are watching their door for a second as a recording of a woman's voice is welcoming them in different languages and asks them to follow a lighted pathway. When they don't move the recording repeats.

"How did you get them if they were arrested."

"It was quite easy actually." he looks back to me, "But that's a story for another time."

I slowly look away and watch as the girls run to each other and hug when they walk out of their rooms, talking for a little. Then they walk down the hall and follow the light that the recording told them. When they walk into the room they end up in the one that the blond is in.

"Ali is that you." Emily asks, making me squint to see if it is her because the camera is panned out.

The girls watch her for a second, seeming so terrified that it hurts to watch as she stops playing the piano and looks at them. I hold my breath as she puts her hand to her face and pulls something off, making their mouths drop.

"Oh my God." Aria's voice comes in disbelief.

I don't know why they are reacting like that though until _A_ zooms the camera closer, and now my mouth drops. Who they thought was Alison actually had a mask on. It's really, "Mona?" he mutes the volume and I turn to him, "She's been alive all this time."

He just nods.

"Why are you doing this to them? Alison has been in jail all this time for no reason!"

He doesn't answer right away before saying, "Let's not pretend that you care about her. We both know you could care less if she rots in jail for the rest of her life."

"But I…"

"Now." he gets up, "There is something we need to do." he heads over to a row of filing cabinets that are beside me. The same one from what I thought was surely a dream.

I struggle around in the rope a bit in fear. There is so much wrapped around me that it goes all the way to my elbows, making it hard to pull my arms up. "Why me?" I'm shaking a little now.

He's searching through drawers as if looking for something, "Because you are part of the plan."

"I...don't want to be part of the plan." I get out in between a painful breath.

"Well that's not really up to you is it?" he turns to me and has something in his hand. "This will all be worth it at the end."

I shake my head, "No."

He walks back to me, "As long as you're here I know that the girls and your precious boyfriend will obey my rules." He gets in front of me now, headphones in his hand as I look up at him.

I lose my breath for a second, "What does Noel have to do with this?"

He just stands there for a few seconds, "Not to give details away. But I'm going to make an offer he can't pass up. He helps me and I'll make sure you stay alive."

My heart sinks as I try not to take my eyes off of him, squeezing my pants to keep calm.

He leans forward, setting wireless headphones on my head and over my ears. A clicking sound comes to my left ear, probably turning it on. Then he he gets up and heads back to his computer screens. I follow his movement and watch him while his hands are going back and forth on the keyboard and mouse.

He turns back to me. "Brace yourself.

He presses a button and a loud, _CRASH!_ echoes in my ears. It's the same sound that I heard when the car flipped from the car accident with my family. Even the crash I slightly remember that happened today.

Hearing that swarms my brain with the day my family died, fast pacing in my mind. I tried so hard to get passed all that. "No!" I yell, trying to get my hands up to take them off. But I can't, so I shake my head multiple times as the same sound repeats over and over. They are tight on my head as I can't get them loose. "Stop!"

I look back to him and watch as he grabs a tripod and places a camera on it in front of me, turning it on. Then he walks back to his computer and messes around with whatever it is he is doing while I yell for the recording to stop. Because now it's not just the car accident, it's Mona's voice from when she kidnapped me. As well as Blake from almost raping me. It's on a loop and keeps randomizing what order they pop up as. Where did all this come from?

"Help!" I yell, struggling with the ropes. "Make it stop!"

I don't know how long I'm like this for, but the whole time I'm yelling at him and trying to get out of the ropes. I continue to shake my head to get the headphones off and beg for him to let me go, to make it stop. It's driving me crazy, making me panic. I didn't go to therapy just to go through all this again. Not only mentally but physically.

The whole time he's not paying attention to me as I bang my feet up and down on the floor in frustration, twisting my body in protest. I can't take the voices in my head anymore, so the only thing I can think of is to stretch my legs as far as I can. When I do I just get the tips of my toes to hit one of the legs to the tripod and down it goes.

He turns around to me, making me know I got to him. He looks down at his camera (that I'm hoping is broken) as he gets up and shakes his head. I don't know if he's talking though because the recording is still going. Once he checks his camera and sets it back up (sadly not broken) he goes back to his desk and the headphones go silent.

He turns off the camera with a remote in his hand as the beep comes. "Feel better?" he asks, taking off the headphones.

I'm shaking a bit, but it's more from rage than being scared now. "No." I struggle with the ropes, "Let me go!"

He pulls the tripod a bit farther from me, probably making sure I don't try to hit it again. "Not just yet." he puts his free hand into his hoodie pocket. "I still need your help."

"Still?"

"You see…" he pulls his hand out of his pocket, "I'm recording what I do to you to show who is boss." he raises his hand, there's a black rag in it. "It will up the game and make them more desperate. Force everyone to listen to what I tell them because they'd want to save you."

I shake my head, the sound of the beep from the camera coming as he turns it back on and then stuffs the remote into his pocket. "No, please."

He doesn't say another word as he watches me for a few seconds. I don't like the way he is just standing there, it's like how Michael Myers stares at his victims in the movie Halloween when he's admiring his handy work. Then he snaps out of it and starts to walk towards me, unfolding the rag with both hands.

"Don't." I lose my breath for a second as I struggle around and kick my legs to try to keep him at a distance. But he gets to me with no problem as he bends down, sitting onto my legs to force them back to the floor, "Get away fr...mmmm!" he shoved the rag quickly into my opened mouth.

He brings my head forward a bit to him and ties it tightly behind my head as I try to pull my head away as I scream at him. But he ignores me and just walks away towards the desk, messing around with the keyboard for a bit and then comes back towards me.

" _Heeelp!_ " I yell through the gag, wrestling with the ropes. " _Help me!_ "

When he gets back in front of me he just stares down for a few seconds as my breathing picks up. Then he blocks me from view and turns to the camera in that creepy way you'd see in a scary movie. I'm not sure what he's doing, but then he puts his hand into his pocket, grabs something out of it and turns to me, walking closer.

I don't know what it is until he crouches down, touches it to my body and the feel of electricity goes through me, "Mmm!" he pulls it away and I realize that it's a taser. He watches me for a few seconds as I catch my breath, watching him with fear in my eyes before doing it again. "Mmmmm!" he does it longer this time, making me cry and gasp for air. But he doesn't stop as he continues to do the same thing a few more times. With each zap it becomes longer than the last and makes me rather die than go through the pain.

I can barely breathe when he stops, coughing through the gag and gasping painfully for air as my head falls to my chest from exhaustion. For about a minute I'm trying everything not to lose consciousness, continuing to take deep painful breaths. My body is shaking, sweat dripping down my face as he walks over to me and grabs my chin, lifting it up.

"Mm." I get out weakly as he forces me to stare at the camera.

I can barely keep my eyes open, wheezing from lack of breath, wishing that this wasn't happening. The fact that he is doing all this because he wants to prove a point to the girls and Noel with seeing me like this makes me hate him even more. I wish that someone would bust through and find me already. To be able to figure out who _A_ is and let this nightmare be over it.

Then he lets go of my face and my chin drops to my chest again, the beep from the camera comes to my ears and I slowly lift my head back up.

Now he walks to the desk and sets the taser down. He seems to be ignoring me for a few minutes as he walks around without looking at me, then walks back to the desk.

"Mm." tears start to form in my eyes.

He doesn't turn to me because he's watching the screens, but he does humor my effort to talk. "Be hopeful that your friends listen to my demands, otherwise it will get worse."

I take a deep breath, shaking my head a bit. But I'm so weak now that I close my eyes, everything drifting away from me as I pass out.


	77. Chapter 77

**Hey Liars! I present another chapter.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has review and keeps up with this story, much appreciated.**

 **I do not own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review and enjoy!**

* * *

I'm not sure how long I'm out for, but it feels like forever when I come to. My head is pounding, my body aches in pain and cold as I'm a bit shaky. I lift my head up to see that no one is here but me. Then the sound of girls talking gets my attention and I look to see that the screens are still on, all five girls are talking to each other in what looks like a warehouse.

I move around uncomfortably, the ropes still keeping my arms in place. "Mm." I lunge forward, using whatever energy I have left. But it is useless as I sigh in defeat.

Then I hear a commotion of voices being raised as I look back at the screens and watch intensely for a few minutes while they talk about a prom, how Emily doesn't want to make it easy for _A_ by practically allowing this person to control them. Then she sits down on the floor refusing to do anything. But Spencer seems to have a different opinion about it as she tells her that Emily's the type of person to give up when times get tough instead of trying to make the best of it. Then throws in Maya's name as an example, which even I know is a stupid thing to say. So once she says that Emily ends up tripping her when Spencer tries to get passed. Then the next thing I know they are tackling each other into a fight while Hanna and Aria try to separate them. What is going on?

When they calm down after their argument to stand next to Mona I start to look around, seeing if there's anything useful to help get me out of this. Instead I notice that the camera is still on the tripod beside me now and the red light on to indicate that the camera is rolling. Then I look up and see that there's another camera on the ceiling that I hadn't noticed before, probably the one _A_ is watching me from.

"Mmmm!" I yell in anger, struggling around in the ropes. "Mmmm!"

I hit my head up against the pole in frustration, my breathing picking up and my chest burns in pain as I try to catch it. My eyes start to dim now as I can't keep them open any longer. They start to close and once again I slip back into darkness

" _Come on, Jessie." Jeff says as he runs down the block. "Last one to the park has to do the dishes later!"_

 _I laugh, chasing after him now. "You always lose, why do you continue to challenge me."_

" _Because I am determined to beat you."_

 _I shove him playful and take off down the street, "You wish!"_

I feel myself waking up from that dream/memory when I was around fourteen. That day we had tied getting to the park and had to have a rematch on the way back home. Naturally I won.

As my eyes start to open I'm aware of talking coming from around me, but I'm hoping that I'm in one of the girl's houses and I just fell asleep, that it was all just a nightmare. The girls never got arrested, I never got taken by _A_ to be tortured as an example. I'm just having a moment where my imagination is incredibly big.

But no, when I do get them fully open I see I'm still in that basement, having a bit of a hard time keeping my eyes focused as I see the dark hooded figure at his desk watching all the girls on the screens. But there's one screen that he is staring at that is different from the rest. It's not any of the girls at all, it looks like _CeCe_.

"Mm." I take a deep breath, my heart pounding fast against my chest.

He turns and sees that I'm up, "'bought time."

I take another deep breath, struggling to keep my eyes open.

"I'm just admiring the handy work I did to your friend." He rubs his gloved fingers onto the screen with CeCe. "She did so much screaming while I gutted her up."

Tears start to form in my eyes, watching the video as she is huddled in a corner of a cage she's trapped in. Tears are sliding down her face as she brings her legs to her chest, hugging it to her body and lays her forehead to her knees. He killed her, and she had nothing to do with this. What chance do I have now.

"But no time for the details." he switches it off and then turns around to me, "I showed your friends and boyfriend a quick little video of your kidnapping. Would you like to see?"

I weakly shake my head, hoping that he'd take this into consideration. But he doesn't as he turns around and presses a button on his keyboard, putting it on one of the screens for me to see. Somehow I manage to stay awake and watch as it shows me nonresponsive with my head on my chest, barely breathing. I actually look dead as _A_ walks over to me and lifts my limp head up. I see that I'm gagged and know that it was recent as he puts a knife to my neck just as the video goes blank. That must have completely freaked them out.

"This video had the girls cooperate more than I thought. I didn't think they cared about you that much to listen." He doesn't say anything about Noel. But I'm assuming that he agreed to the terms since I'm still breathing.

I take a deep breath, having a bit of a hard time breathing. When I do the smell of food goes up my nose and realize that I haven't eaten since breakfast before heading to the courthouse. I'm so hungry.

"No!" he yells, making me jump and now I'm more awake than before. "They are doing it wrong." he starts complaining about how the girls aren't setting up the prom correctly and maybe he needs to remind them of how high the stakes are for my life.

I look at the screens to see him zooming into a couple different rooms that the girls are in. One looks like the warehouse they were in earlier and the other looks like some kind of playroom. A high pitched alarm sound comes when they do something wrong, having them cover their ears in pain.

I watch helplessly as he does this a few more times to them, realizing that Mona isn't with the other four girls. She's in what looks like Alison's room minding her own business. She isn't getting the full effect of the alarm like the others because she doesn't do anything she isn't supposed to do. But everytime she hears the alarm from when it echoes into her room she flinches so bad I'm sure she's going to come out of her skin. Then she apologizes as if it's a habit. I haven't seen her so scared and vulnerable since she was considered _Loser Mona_ by Alison back before I moved. Whatever _A_ has done to her has to do with turning her into Alison for some twisted reason.

So since he seems to pick up that the alarm isn't doing the job he presses a different button on his keyboard station. "Make it stop!" my own voice comes from all the screens and my heart sinks. All the girls stop what they are doing and look up at the cameras in fear. "Help me!" this is from when he was tormenting me with the recording.

"Oh my God." Spencer says, her face turning white as she stares down at Hanna who looks like she is about to puke herself.

"Jessie!" Aria yells from a different screen, Emily right beside her with her mouth hanging open.

"Mm!"

"Thought that would get their attention." _A_ says, seeming satisfied.

I wiggle around in the ropes, "Mmm!"

He zooms in on Mona's screen and see that even her face is pale, but considering that it seems that _A_ wants her to act like Alison she doesn't show much sympathy. Instead she has a smirk on her face with her arms crossed. "That bitch finally got what she deserved."

My heart sinks. I know it's not her, that it isn't her choice to sound like that. But it truly hurts to hear those words come out of someone who's supposed to be my friend.

He repeats my pleas for help again, adding my helpless screams of torture from being tasered and gagged.

"Stop hurting her!" Hanna yells from the warehouse camera.

"Let her go!" Emily gets in from the playroom one.

"Stop it!" Aria yells next as her eyes go from scared to flaming, "Leave her alone you piece of shit!"

"Aria." Emily says to her in a bit of panic and grabs onto her arm in fear.

My eyes start to water from seeing them like this as _A_ turns off the recording of my voice. I hear him breathing heavy as he gets up from his seat. I think what she said pissed him off as he grabs the taser from the desk and turns to me.

" _No_!" I yell through the rag, struggling with the ropes. But it's no use as he takes out his anger on me and puts the taser to my leg, "Mmmmmmmmmm!" he does this for so long that if I had something in my stomach to throw up I would have.

Once he gets that out of his system he takes a deep breath, seeming to calm himself down and then walks away. "These girls don't understand respect."

I'm coughing so bad that I can't breathe, then pain shoots up my body and I start to shake in an alarming way uncontrollably.

"What are you doing?" his voice sounds faint as my ears dim in and out, my body continuing to spaz on it's own as he bends down beside me. He lifts my chin up to look at his shadowed face the best I can. "Hey." there's a little panic in his voice that I have never heard before.

My body won't stop shaking, what is happening. "Mm." I don't feel good as I pull my head away. Then I feel something come up my throat, making me choke and I start to gag. White foam spills out of my mouth and onto my lap.

"Oh my God." that doesn't sound like a he anymore as I'm being untied and set to lay on my back, the rag getting pulled out of my mouth.

I know that voice as _A_ rips off the black mask that is under the hood and then rolls me onto my side, holding my arm down in support from all the shaking I'm doing. The face I see is not who I was expecting.

"Jessie, breathe." CeCe says with her other hand on my chest, as if feeling to see how much air I have left. There's so much worry in her eyes and voice that I don't even know what to feel. Am I going to die?

More foam continues to seep out, my eyes roll to the back of my head and my shaking gets more rapid than before.

"No! Jessie, stay with me!"

Her echoed screaming telling me to hold on slowly fades, I feel like I'm floating away just as something stabs me in the leg. That's the last thing I remember until I hear a beeping sound starting to surround me, voices slowly coming too as my hearing gets stronger.

"Ms. Montgomery. As I've said before, we don't know how long she was like this before she was brought in the other day." a man says, "A seizure can be serious in more ways than one."

I take a breath, it hurts a little when I do. My body is aching all over and feels heavy when I try to move. So I slowly open my eyes and light blinds me for a second before becoming completely confused when I realize I'm laying in a hospital bed.

"Jessie!" a familiar female voice comes, scaring me so bad that a sped up sound of beeps comes from the side.

"Don't overwhelm her, Ella." Uncle Byron's voice comes now as I turn my head to the side.

There's Aunt Ella, who is by my side in no time. Uncle Byron and Mike both walking right behind her from the door. Mike looks like he's ready to ball his eyes out when he sees me. Then I spot Ezra, Caleb and Toby standing by the door, seeming afraid to move. Lastly there's Noel, his smile not bright like it always is as his eyes swell up in tears and sits beside me on the bed. Everyone looks so worried that I don't know what to make of it.

I try to sit up, but Noel holds onto my shoulder and makes me lay down. "Don't move."

I have an oxygen tube in my nose, an IV needle in one arm while the other is in a cast from my forearm to my hand. My head is pounding so bad that I have to close my eyes for a few seconds. "W-What's going on?" my voice sounds really hoarse, like I haven't spoken in years.

"What's the last thing you remember, Jessie?" Toby asks, he's in his police uniform as he finally gets closer.

I rack my brain for a second, trying to think. "Alison's trial. The girls getting arrested…." I stop, having a hard time now.

"Anything else?" he asks, more urgent as his voice seems to fail him.

"A man's voice telling me I'm needed to make a point." I strain to remember, "The sound of electricity. A shadowed figure." I take a breath, shaking my head. "That's it, everything else is gone."

All of their faces are in horror mode, I don't like this. "You don't remember what happened to you?" Mike asks, his voice cracking.

My breath gets caught, "What...what happened to me?"

Everyone looks at each other, then Toby says. "You got into a car accident. Someone took you." his voice is calm. Him being the cop I guess they all agreed to let him speak.

"What?"

"You were missing for three days."

My heart starts to pound hard against my chest, the beeping of the machine doing the same rhythm as mine. "Th-Three days?"

"That's enough." Dr. Richard tells them, "She needs her rest."

"We need to ask her questions." Toby gets in.

"Not now." he tells him, more strict this time.

"No." I get out, calming myself when Noel slips his fingers through mine. "I want to help."

"I don't recommend that, Jessie."

"Please?" I take a deep breath, "I need to."

He stares at me for a few seconds, then nods. "Very well. But when I come back I must insist that she get her rest."

Once he's gone I look at everyone. Caleb and Ezra are still standing at the door, so quiet that it scares me. "Have you told the girls that I'm okay?"

They all look at each other again, I'm hating this already. "They are missing." Ezra manages to say.

My heart sinks, shaking my head. "Th-That's not possible. They went to jail."

"They were being transferred away from Alison's prison." Aunt Ella tells me, "Whoever took them knew where they were headed."

I take a deep breath, "So the person who took me took them?"

"That's the theory." Uncle Bryon gets in.

"And I wasn't with them when I was found?"

They all shake their heads, "You were in a different location from them. In a cellar." Toby says, "At the Campbell Apple Farm."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, "As in Andrew Campbell's family?"

He nods, "He's been out of reach for a week. We think this is some type of lead to all this."

I shake my head, "There is no way that Andrew would be involved in kidnapping people, especially not me."

"I'm just saying what's going around the station." he tells me.

"I dated this guy for practically a whole year. And he was really into Aria." I tell them all as Aunt Ella hands me a bottled water, slightly seeing Ezra's face get pale. "I know him better than anyone else does. He wouldn't do this to us."

"I believe you, Jessie." Toby says, holding onto his belt like a typical cop does, "But if anymore evidence points to him I may not be as convinced by your word."

"Toby, give her a break." Caleb finally says from behind him.

He turns around, "I'm not saying this to be mean. I'm just stating my opinion on where my mind set will be if Andrew isn't cleared."

"He's hasn't been seen since you all went missing." Uncle Byron tells me, "That's looking very suspicious that when they find you in his family's farm that he's nowhere to be found."

I shake my head, "It wasn't him. I know it wasn't him."

It gets quiet for about a minute. No one seems to know how to react, so I look at Noel and he just smiles. Then Mike says, "Can I sign your cast?" as he points to my forearm.

We all laugh, this lightens up the mood, "You are too much." I tell him.

He smiles, "Can I?"

I nod, "Go for it."

His mom gives him a pen from her purse and hands it to him. He leans forward and writes, _To the world's biggest badass. Love you! - Mikey._

After that, for another few minutes they talk to me, letting me know that I had been in a coma for a few days from a seizure. They only found me because someone anonymously called the police to let them know that they found someone having one, went unconscious and needed medical attention. Everyone now knows that it was me, but the problem is that they don't know how long this person waited before calling. I could have been in one for the whole three days missing for all they knew.

Then Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron go to grab me some food, Noel heading off to use the bathroom. So once they are out of earshot I say, "We all agree that this was _A_ , right?"

The four boys all nod at the same time, "Definitely."

The fact that _A_ had a heart to help me from dying at all is what really confuses me. "So how did you know I was down there?"

"The cellar doors were open." Toby tells me.

"What else did you find?"

"It was a whole lair of computer screens. The girls were on all of them, trapped in some abandoned warehouse with replicated versions of their rooms. There was even a camera on the ceiling that we think was recording you, but _A_ took out the memory from it. So far we got nothing more on what you went through down there."

"Mona's alive." Mike blurts out.

I look at him, my mouth dropping. "What?"

"She was never killed. This person had her all this time."

Now a few days pass and I'm finally given the okay to leave the hospital. Aunt Ella has me stay at her place because she doesn't want me to be alone. I try to tell her that I'm okay but she won't hear it, so Mike decides to sleep over his mom's house with me for the night for company. Not to mention that his brotherly instincts kicked in to protect me. There is only two rooms, but Mike doesn't mind sleeping on the sofa.

So when he gets here tonight we are hanging in the living room, watching some Netflix. The news of me being rescued is still circulating on every news channel, wanting information on my kidnapper and on leads for the girls. So to keep me from thinking about it we plug in Mike's laptop into the TV instead.

I'm lying my head on a pillow while my feet are stretched out on Mike's lap. He has his hands resting on my leg as we intensely watch Nightmare on Elm Street. My choice of movie and he found it odd that I wanted to watch a scary movie after probably going through something that was basically my own horror movie. Considering I don't remember any of it I can't really say anything about that opinion.

While in the middle of the second movie to this series he runs his finger on the bottom of my foot, making me laugh and pull my leg away. "Hey." I look at him with a smile, "Don't be a jerk."

He laughs and smiles back, "Sorry, but I'm kind of exhausted. It's three in the morning."

I look at the time on the laptop. It is that late at night. "Wow."

"Yea." he nods, "I'd love to stay up with you, but I'm falling asleep."

I sit up, stretching. "No problem."

"You're sure you're okay though, right? Don't need to talk? I'll stay up if you need me to."

I smile a bit, shaking my head, "I'm good, Mikey."

He raises his eyebrows, "Promise?"

"Pinky promise." I stand up, I'm still a bit weak as my body hurts, my legs wobbling to keep up with my weight. But I don't react as I rub his head playfully, making it a mess. "I love you."

He gets up and hugs me, "I love you too." he kisses my forehead. "See you when you wake up."

I'm laying in bed, watching the ceiling of the spare room for I don't know how long as I can't sleep. The door is decently open enough to have light from the hallway shine through. I don't have the light coming in my room because I'm scared of _A_ , I'm just still affected from what Mona did to me last year and can't get over being afraid of the dark.

When I finally close my eyes and drift off to sleep I dream of the sound of electricity swarming me. The sound of muffled screams and breathing heavy follows. Everything is dimmed except for a silhouette of someone standing in front of me. What does this all mean?

My eyes shoot open just as my phone starts buzzing on the nightstand beside me, making me jump a bit. I turn to it as the screen is lit up since it's on the nightstand where the darker part of the room is. I roll over and grab it with my non-broken arm, closing one of my eyes as it blinds me for a second. Then I roll onto my back again and press a button to see that I got a text from a blocked number.

My heart sinks, "Oh no." I whisper to myself.

I take a deep breath and open the message. " _Thanks for your help. Here's your reward_."

There's two attachments to the text so I click on the first one. A video opens up and it shows me in the cellar Toby said I was in. I'm tied to a pole to a staircase in rope as it's a mixed tapping of what I realize it's showing what _A_ did to me. I'm yelling while headphones are on my ears, struggling around. Then it skips, now I get gagged and leaves me like that for a bit while I yell at this person doing things around the lair. It shows their body block me from the camera, holding up a note. It reads " _If you want her to stay alive, you need to do what I say._ " then walks over and tasers me, making my heart sink to realize that the random dreams and sounds of electricity and muffled sounds is from this.

Now it shows my head falling to my chest as I can't catch my breath when finished and lifts my head up to stare at the camera, as if making a point. From there it skips again, showing me unconscious as he lifts my head and threatens me with a knife to my neck. When it skips again this time I'm wake, randomly screaming up at the ceiling, then pass out again.

This is what happened to me? How could I not remember? But I push that away as I click the next attachment. It's another video. This one shows the girls standing outside of some place in prom dresses. Not only is it the four girls, but Mona is with them. They are looking all over as music is blasting around them and surrounded by some type of fencing. Then they go to run towards the fence and Spencer yells for them to stop so loud that it even scares me. I'm not sure why she does that, but I do see that behind the fence looks like trees, like they are in the woods.

"Oh my God." Mona says in fear, spinning around in panic.

"There's is no way out of here." Emily gets in, fear clearly in her voice too.

"What are we going to do?" Hanna asks, getting close to the fence but not touching it as I realize that there is a sign indicated that it is an electrical fence.

Then a metal door that seems to lead under ground closes behind them, now they are really trapped.

The video goes blank and my anxiety picks up as my eyes pop out of my head and my breath gets caught in my throat, "Aunt Ella!"


	78. Chapter 78

**Hey guys, hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**

* * *

"Aunt...Aunt Ella." I breathe heavy when I get into her room.

"What the hell, Jessie." Mike says from the door, rubbing his eyes in a sleepy state because I scared the hell out of him when I ran out.

I ignore him and shake her awake, " _Aunt Ella_." I say louder in a scared tone.

She kind of jumps, turning around from the wall and squints through the light of her room. "What is it?" she asks groggy yet concerned.

I hold up my phone, "The kidnapper...m-made contact."

She sits up quickly, her eyes bulging in fear. "What?"

"Sh-Showed me what I went through down there." I take a breath, my head starting to spin a little as I rest my hand onto the wall for support. "A-And the girls."

I feel arms grab hold of me from the side, keeping me up. "Come here." Mike says, "You look like you're going to pass out." He takes the phone from my hand and gives it to his mom, taking me to the living room. "Breathe."

Aunt Ella wasted no time calling Toby after watching the video, the look on her face was pale when she walked out of her room. So as we waited in the living room for Toby to come, Aunt Ella made coffee. Her way to keep busy while I showed Mike the videos, because he wouldn't leave me alone about seeing it. I had to get up though and walk over to the kitchen to help her, because I couldn't watch that again.

As soon as he looks up from the phone, pure terror on his face a knock comes to the door. Aunt Ella goes over to open it and we see Toby and Tanner.

"Officer Cavanaugh informed me that you got sent something from the person who took you." Tanner says as she walks inside, Toby right behind her.

I slowly nod, "A text, with two video attachments."

I show them the two video's _A_ sent me. Toby has nothing but fear on his face, even turning a little pale as if he wants to throw up. But Tanner has barely any emotion as she asks what the text meant.

I shake my head, shrugging. "I have no idea."

"Well, Jessie." she takes a breath, talking in a kind of low tone and sounds a little bored. "That text is _very_ specific. Thanking you for helping them."

I look at her in confusion, "I don't know what you want me to say."

"I would like to know how you helped said kidnapper."

I try to keep my temper down, because I can't even take her seriously. She's questioning me as if I'm a suspect. "I can't answer that, because…"

"You don't remember anything." she nods, "Yes, I read the report."

I grit my teeth a little, staring at Toby. He has the same look he always has when he's trying to secretly tell me to relax. I mean, I can't believe this right now. She went and arrested my friends because _A_ planted evidence on them and clearly now knows that Mona is really alive. Then someone went and kidnapped the girls that they suspected to have killed her along with me, but yet still has the nerve to treat me like I did something wrong. That completely pisses me off. I was kidnapped for fucks sake, had a freaking seizure and was in a coma. What is she thinking.

Eventually Tanner leaves me alone and has me send the video's to Toby's cell because she wants to see if their tech person can get something from them.

Tanner leaves and Toby hangs back for a little, letting me know that he'll get Caleb on it too.

"Can you believe her?" I get out in frustration, "She thought I was lying."

"She was just testing you." he tells me.

"No, she was treating her like a criminal." Mike gets in.

"It's a tactic. I'm sorry it was used on you."

Once he leaves I check my phone, realizing that all my attempts to get in contact with Andrew has failed since I found out he was a suspect. My phone had been left in my car from the accident and somehow it managed to not have any damage. So when I got it back I had text him, letting him know I was okay but that Aria is still missing. I'm hoping to hear from him soon. I'm worried and I don't want what the cops told me to be true. I want to prove the police department wrong on him being part of this.

"Andrew, where are you? I've been calling and texting you for like, ever. I'm worried." I leave him this voice message.

Then I try getting in contact with Noel, he's been distant since I woke up. So as always there's no answer.

I have a hard time sleeping after this, so Mike stays with me in the spare room the entire night to keep an eye on me. When I finally fall asleep my dreams swarm with what I saw in those videos. My torture and the girls being trapped.

"Aria!" I sit up in panic, realizing it's now morning.

"Whoa!" Mike sits up from beside me, making me jump because I forgot he was here. "You're okay."

Tears form in my eyes, my breathing too rapid to control. I feel like I'm suffocating. "We have to find them, Mikey."

He grabs onto me, pulling me towards him. "We will."

"What if we don't? What if _A_ kills them."

"Don't think like that."

I take a breath, starting to cry now as he rocks me in place. He eventually relaxes me and has me lay down, wrapping his arms around me in comfort.

I manage to fall asleep again, not waking up until the afternoon. I see that Mike isn't here anymore and head out into the living room. When I look to the side I find Noel sitting in the kitchen with Aunt Ella and Mike. He has a coffee in his hand as he turns around and smiles at me.

"Hey."

I take a breath and walk over as he stands up and pulls me into a hug, "Why haven't you been answering your phone?"

Now he takes a breath, "School, sports. A lot of things."

I look up at him, "I know when you're lying."

He smiles, shaking his head. "I'm not. I swear."

"I'm serious. Don't be doing that to protect me. It's not your job."

"Isn't it?" he grabs my hands and holds them in his, "Isn't that the point of a boyfriend? To protect the one he loves?"

My eyebrows go up, my breath getting caught for a second. "You...you love me?"

He smiles, nodding. "Yea." he leans down and kisses me, longer than he did before. "I do."

That right there ladies and gentlemen is when you know you've changed Noel Kahn. When you get this cocky, rich and popular guy who would do more for his reputation than for people to change that thought process? Then you know you've done something right.

I smile up at him, "I love you too." And I do. I'm not saying it just because he told me first. This guy has been part of my life for so long that I've always loved him in some way. But I never thought I would actually be in _love_ with him. Am I dreaming? Pinch me.

His smile brightens, his eyes twinkling. I guess I took him off guard. "You do?"

I get on my tiptoes, grabbing the back of his neck and bring him down to me. "Yes." then I kiss him.

Now you'd think since we got all mushi and vulnerable with each other he would have made the effort to keep closer contact. But no, he's still going MIA, not answering calls or texts. What is going on with him.

Anyways, in the last couple of days that passed I finally got text messages from Andrew, telling me that he's so glad I'm okay and terrified about Aria. I didn't get much of a convo the first day, but I did get almost a whole day the second time. We had as normal of a convo as possible for me to explain what happened before telling me that he's been looking for Aria. The next day is when I told Toby this and he asked me to let Andrew know that the cops were looking for him and needed to question him. That seemed to scare him off and he never got back to me.

So from the time I got taken to now I didn't go to school. I've been away for over a week and stayed at Aunt Ella's place until I felt I could go back, Mike kept me company whenever she couldn't from still trying to figure out where Aria is. But today I make the choice to head to school tomorrow, feeling that I'm ready enough to go. So after a bit of arguing whether I'm actually in a state of mind to be on my own I head home, but she makes me promise to have someone stay with me. I agree and end up asking Ezra. He has no problem with taking the role to stay with me. Why? Because besides him knowing that I'm scared, he rather not have me on my own either.

"I'm glad to see that you finally invested in a bed for the guest room." he says as we head into my apartment.

I laugh, "Yea, except I never got the chance to set everything up." I had brought over my brother's bed frame from storage, but I never bothered to build it from being busy.

"Well luckily for you I'm your first official guest to use it, so I'm here to help."

I smile, "Yep."

He puts his hand on my shoulder, making me look up at him. "You okay?"

I half smile, "I miss them."

He nods a few times, "I know. Me too."

We sit in silence for a while, trying to get this bed back together. But with my cast it's almost impossible for me to help so he takes over and I just sit in the corner watching him.

"Ezra?"

He slowly looks over at me, almost done with the bed. His eyebrows slant in confusion from the look on my face. "What's wrong?"

"Did you see them?"

"See who?"

"The videos _A_ sent me."

His face drops a little, then he nods. "I did."

I look down at my hands, "What do you think the point of it was?"

I hear him put something metal onto the floor, his footsteps echo and then he sits beside me. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Beat yourself up over this."

"How can I not?"

"Because you had no control of it."

"What if we don't find them, Ezra. What if they are going through worse than I did."

He lifts my chin up, "Stop. Okay? We found you, now we'll get them."

I shake my head, "You only found me because _A_ got scared that I was going to die."

"Which clearly means that your purpose wasn't to be killed. So the intention is probably the same for the girls."

I walk into school the next day and see everyone watching me. I remember nothing and yet they all insist on asking me for details as if this is all a joke. Noel has to back them off me, knowing that I'm getting overwhelmed and walks me to my first class after my locker. The problem is that more stares swarm me as I head inside, whispered voices of people probably making fun of me as I look down at my hands and head to my seat. When I get to my desk I close my eyes, trying to block out all of my emotions. But the worst part is knowing that I'm going to be going through school by myself, 'cause the girls are gone. There's going to be no Mona, no Aria, no anyone.

When I walk into fourth period I'm sitting in the back of class practically by myself as I do everything I can not to let the kids make me panic. Not only can I not concentrate because the other kids are distracting me, but Aunt Ella won't take her eyes off of me either, which is making my anxiety pick up more. I was hoping she wouldn't be like this when I came back, but I obviously should have known better since I know how she reacted last year.

The only class that I actually enjoy is ceramics, because seeing Annabeth's familiar face calms me down at once. Not to mention that her eyes lights up when she sees me, as if I'm the best part of her day.

"Jessie." hearing her British accent warms my heart as she stands up and runs over, slamming into me so hard that it hurts. Some parts of my body still bothers me from what I went through, but I do my best to ignore it.

I take a breath, wrapping my arms around her. "Hey."

"I've been meaning to come see you, I swear." she lets go.

I smile, "No biggie. I needed the rest."

She watches my face for awhile, like she's making sure she doesn't forget what I look like. "I was so worried about you." she shakes her head, her eyes seeming to fill up a bit in tears. "How could this have happened?"

"Bad luck?"

She gives me a look, shaking her head. "It's not funny, Jessie."

I give her a sad look, "Never said it was."

She takes a breath, then looks over my shoulder. "This school is rubbish."

I half smile, "This whole town is rubbish, Annabeth."

She laughs, "You're starting to understand me without asking."

Now I laugh, "I've been around you so much that it's easy to figure it out now."

She smiles, then stares down at my cast. She reaches out and pokes it with the tip of her finger. "Nice battle wound."

I half smile, "Thanks."

"I'm sorry to hear about your friends." she gets out quickly, as if she's been trying to find a way to say that for all this time.

I try not to have my confidence fade as everyone else in class is watching me, my anxiety picking up. "Me too."

More days pass, Ezra is still staying with me and a few times the other boys pass by, trying their best not to fill me in on _A_ related stuff. However, I always pressure them to at least give me the simple details. Like Andrew still not turning up, how Alison got dropped of her charges and will be going back to school eventually. Even not being able to pinpoint the whereabouts of the girls yet, but that they think they are getting closer. I don't know if that last part is true, but at least they are trying to make me feel better.

"I want to help." I tell them one day while eating food from the Grille at my place, all of us sitting at the island.

They all look at each other, then at me. "No." they say at the same time.

I grab my can of Pepsi, watching them with disbelief. "I'm not sitting here doing nothing while you all are on the _A_ trail."

"Do you realize that you got taken to begin with because you're the most important pawn in this game." Caleb says, "You're the most valuable player for those girls. That's why _A_ took you."

"Oh for fucks sake. You guys are just as important to those girls as I am."

"If that were true we'd have been one of the people taken."

"Not you." Toby adds, getting up to grab another beer from my fridge. Ezra sticking around it's stocked up on beer more often.

"So I have to just live my life knowing that they are out there with the maniac that took me."

"Living your life is the best thing right now." Ezra says, putting his hand onto my shoulder.

The following week I walk into school in the morning and as usual I'm being stared at like I have multiple heads as I head through the front door with Noel by my side. It's as if no one can get enough of seeing me even after being back for over a week. I hate, and I repeat _hate_ when everyone decides that my business is there business just because it circulates throughout town like my life is big news. Especially when everyone makes fun of me and makes me feel like a total idiot for getting myself kidnapped _again_.

As I walk with him to my locker I accidently bump into someone. "Sorry."

"I'm sure you are."

I close my eyes in frustration, because I recognize that voice right away.

"Luna, seriously I'm not in the mood." but when I turn around she's not alone, Kyle is right there with her and...oh no, _Blake._

He has a bright smile on his face, "Hey, Jess. It's been a long time."

My heart sinks, mind swarming with that night of him forcing himself on top of me. "W-What are you doing here?"

"I kind of go to school here." his smile gets a little evil now.

I shake my head, he's been out of juvie for a while but he wasn't allowed to come back here. I heard a rumor that he got sent to another town, or was being homeschooled, yet here he is. "You're not supposed to be anywhere near me."

"Says what? A piece of paper?"

"Says a judge." Noel gets in, squeezing himself between me and him.

Blake smiles at him, then strains to get a look at me behind his back. "I heard you were dating Noel. Was I really not good enough that you had to get me sent away."

I'm holding onto Noel's arm as I try not to seem like I'm a complete coward and slowly walk out from behind him. "You tried to rape me." I get out with a shaky voice as Noel grabs onto my hand in comfort.

"According to you."

"Th-There were witnesses."

He laughs, "That you made back you up because they were your friends."

"You're such a piece of shit, Blake." Noel gets in now.

Blake watches him for a few seconds, then smiles. "Well long story short is that I'm back. My uncle being a cop and all helped me out."

My heart sinks as I remember that his uncle has never been the type to go by the rules in this town. He must have done something to get someone to reverse his restrictions to get back into this school.

"I'm sure my dad will say different." Noel adds, "You know, him being a _judge_ and all."

Blake laughs, "Try your worst, Kahn."

"Hey, loser!" Emma yells from down the hall, walking this way. Now I just want to crawl into a hole as she gets to us. "Can't get enough attention can you?"

I take a breath, calming myself down. There's too much going on at once. "Leave me alone."

She laughs, "Nope."

"Why can't you just give things a rest?"

"Because you're so easy to pick on. Why bother anyone else."

"I'm not easy to pick on."

She starts laughing again, eyeing her friends. "I can't take you seriously when it's clearly easy to be taken against your will."

I try to smile and not bother with what she said, but anger builds up inside me now as I lunge forward and go to hit her. But Noel grabs onto me before I can get close.

Now she's cracking up, "Oh, Brant. Always have to outdo yourself. Kidnapped for a second time in two years? Why don't they just keep you?"

"I'm still on the fact that you say you're not easy. If I almost raped you, as you say, then that proves that it's simple enough to overpower you." Blake adds with a sly smile.

My mind flashes back again, making my mind race in fear.

 _"Stop!"_

 _Blakes face gets to me and kisses me on the lips, "It's okay." He unzips my pants._

 _"No!" I jerk my body to the side, making him topple over towards the front seat. "Heeelp!"_

"Jessie?" Noel says, holding onto me still as my breath gets caught in my throat.

"See." Emma laughs, "Too easy."

"Fuck off." that voice comes from the side, making us all look. I realize quickly who it is...Alison. Today is her first day back since she got out of jail. "She didn't ask for this to happen. Don't be such a bitch." now she turns to the triplets. "And if I see you put a hand on her I'll break your fingers off."

They all look at her, fear on their faces as they start to back away. It looks like she hasn't lost her touch much even being in jail. Her reputation from back in the day plus having a murder charge under her belt probably helps.

Once they are out of sight she turns to me and slightly smiles, "You okay?"

I'm trying to keep calm as I get out of Noel's grip, taking deep breaths. "Y-Yea. Thanks."

She shakes her head, "They shouldn't be doing that. It's not right."

I turn to open my locker with my good hand, which is hard because I'm a righty as I struggle. "It's nothing I'm not used to."

"Here." Noel says, helping me open my locker. Then he puts his hand under my chin to look at him. "I have to go. You good?"

I side look at Alison, debating on my answer. Then I nod, "Yea, I'm okay."

He smiles, "Okay." he kisses me on the head, "I'll see you later."

It's quiet for a few long seconds as I take my backpack off my shoulder. I was hoping Alison would have taken off too, but instead she leans up against Emily's locker. Seeing her's and Aria's lockers close by reminds me of them being missing all this time and I feel all the emotions coming back to me.

"Hey." Alison says, getting me out of my daze as her hand lands on my shoulder. "You sure you're alright?"

I put some books into my locker, shaking off her hand from me. "Do the girls being missing for weeks seem okay to you, Alison?" I look at her, "And Mona really being alive for over four months."

Her eyes sadden, "I know. I'm sorry."

I take a deep breath as I turn away and put things into my backpack, but my cast hand buckles under the pressure of too many books in my bag and drops to the floor. "Damn it."

Alison bends down, "Let me help."

"Ali, stop."

She looks up at me, "You still don't trust me? I'm not _A_ , Jessie. I didn't do this."

"It's not that. It's you acting nice. Like we are friends. We _aren't_ friends."

She stands and gives me my backpack, "In a time like this I'm one of a few people you can confide in. Don't push me away because you are afraid of me." Then she walks away.

I watch her head down the hall, then close my locker. I'm feeling really overwhelmed as I rest my hand onto it and close my eyes, taking deep breaths. I can get through today.


	79. Chapter 79

**I do not own Pretty Little Liars. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Frerform.**

 **Hope you enjoy, please review.**

 **Thanks to everyone who continues to keep up with Jessie's story.**

* * *

Since I'm in a cast I can't be playing softball, so I have no activities after school. For the second year in a row an injury has made my high school softball career go down the drain. Not that it matters anyway since my heart hasn't been all that into it lately.

So as I'm getting down the steps after last period I see two cop cars are pulled up in front, one of them I notice is Toby. "Jessie." he says when he gets out from seeing me and walks around his car to me.

I half smile, not sure whether him being here is good or bad. "What's up."

"Just wanted to see how you're doing."

"With your cop buddy?"

He smiles, looking over at the officer in the other car. "It's a coincidence?"

I take a breath, not wanting to argue right now as I lean up against his car with my arms crossed.

He follows my lead, "How was school?"

"It sucked if I'm being honest."

"Did Ali give you a hard time?"

I shake my head, looking at my hands. "Blake did." I look up at him, "He's back in school."

His face drops, "What?"

"I don't know how he did it, but he walked right back into school, back into my life and made me seem like I lied. His siblings and friends backed him up."

He takes a deep breath, "How could that happen."

"His uncle's a cop. Whatever he did to make the restraining order and restrictions go away was clearly enough for noone to bat an eye on how dangerous it is to have him around. Not just me, but any girl."

"I'll figure out how to get this fixed, Jessie. He won't get away with it."

I'm quiet for a few seconds, "You know everyone from school looks at me like I'm a total freak. I mean, who gets themselves kidnapped two years in a row? It's embarrassing."

"Kids are cruel."

"Adults are no better."

"You just got to ignore it." he puts his arm around my shoulders and squeezes me to his body, "I'm just glad that we found you when we did."

I take a deep breath, "But we haven't found them. What are we going to do."

"You are going to do nothing."

I look up at him, giving him an annoyed face. "Toby, we've been over this. I want to help."

"And as I've said a million times, Jessie." his voice and face are both serious, "You already went through too much as it is. If _A_ finds out you're helping, who knows what will happen."

"Nothing will happen. Because if they risked having me found in their personal lair after almost dying I doubt they'll go to that extreme again."

"Better safe than sorry."

"I can't just sit back and let you guys handle this."

"I'm a cop, it's my job."

"That's not what I meant."

He nods, "We have it under control."

"You need more eyes than just yours, Caleb's and Ezra's."

"With my police skills, Caleb's hacking, and inside police help we'll be fine."

I take a breath, "Okay."

"Good." he lets go.

I watch him for a second, "Now are you going to tell me what you're really doing here?"

He half laughs, then looks to the side and watches the other kids as they walk back and forth from the end of the school day. "Tanner assigned me and this officer to keep an eye on you and Alison."

I roll my eyes, "Great."

He looks at me, "It's for your own protection now that Ali is out of jail and back here."

"She's been back in town for like a week. Why do I need an escort now?"

"She's just taking more precautions since Ali may be around you a bit more. Incase _A_ strikes again. But I think Tanner feels that whoever took the girls is after Alison, you were just…"

"Bait."

He gives me a sad look, "Yea."

"That's probably why _A_ spared my life on Christmas Eve. I was part of this thought out plan."

"It's possible." his eyes shift away from mine, but I can tell there's more.

"What else?"

He looks back down to me, "We found out that Andrew is adopted."

I look at him in confusion, "I didn't realize that wasn't known knowledge."

Now he gives me a confused look, "You knew?"

"I was his girlfriend for almost a year, of course I knew that."

"Then why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I assumed that was something everyone knew. Considering this town finds out everything."

"Right."

"Why does him being adopted even matter?"

He shrugs, "It's just part of our research of…"

"Don't say of him being a suspect."

He gives me a sad look, "Jessie, he completely disappeared. You asked him to come talk to us and he didn't. He's been missing since you guys were taken. That is enough for suspicion."

"He didn't do this."

"There's a lot of evidence against him right now, Jessie. How can you be so sure?"

"Because I _know_ him."

He takes a breath, "Your word isn't going to be enough to convince Tanner."

"I don't care about convincing her, I know the type of person he is. Hurting people isn't in his nature, especially when it's me."

"Then explain to me why the van that the girls were last seen in ended up at his family's farm? Why the minute we need to ask him questions because we questioned his entire family he decides to lose contact with you."

"He's probably scared. The cops around this town aren't exactly all that reliable."

He gives me a look, "Thanks."

"Oh don't give me that. You once thought the same."

He takes a deep breath, "Come on. I'll take you home."

"I'm good." I get up and walk onto the curb. "I'm waiting for Aunt Ella."

He slightly smiles and nods, "Right." he leans in and hugs me, "Well I'll be right here if you need me."

"Like my own personal bodyguard."

He smiles, "At least it's me and not a stranger."

I watch him jump into his car and I turn away to go sit at one of the tables in front of the school. Aunt Ella said she is going to be late meeting with me since she has a few things to do, so I might as well get my homework started.

I have to be sitting out here for a good five minutes. Stupid me started with math and have no idea what to do. Normally when I'm not able to figure something out I'd ask Spencer for help, or have a study session with Hanna since she's in the same class, but I can't ask either or.

"Stuck?"

I had been in such a daze trying to figure all this out that I just noticed I'm in my sticking my tongue out in concentration phase. So I fix my face, slowly lifting my head off of my casted fist. I've been having to write with my left hand because of this stupid cast for weeks and it's a nightmare.

When I look up I find the eyes of Alison staring down at me. "Don't you ever leave me alone."

"Jessie, I'm seriously just trying to help."

"I don't want your help. I don't want you around me."

She doesn't listen as she sits across the table, grabbing my math book from in front of me. I hold back my urge to tell her off as she takes a look at my stuff, then looks up at me. "I know how to do this."

I give her a confused look, "How could you possibly know this when you've been gone for four years, in jail over a month, and only in a ninth grade class."

She half smiles, "I pick up on things fast."

I just stare at her, not bothering to say anything else as I take back my book. She doesn't leave even when I stare away from her and try my best to do my homework without the help. The presence of her and the sensation of feeling her watching me is driving me crazy as I tap the eraser part of my pencil in rapid speed on the table.

Finally I can't take it anymore, "Go home, Alison."

"Jessie…can you just listen to me for a second?"

I take a deep breath and look at her, " _What_?" I say in a nasty way, because she's getting on my nerves.

"Where's Andrew?"

My heart sinks, and my face goes slack. "What?"

"Where is he, Jessie."

"Why the hell would I know that?"

"Because he dated you. He probably trusts you the most."

"He hasn't reached out to me since he found out that I told Toby he contacted me." I watch her for a second, "Are you seriously convinced that he has something to do with this?"

"Everyone thinks he does."

"Well, I don't. So shove every bad thing you think of him up your ass, because he is one of the nicest guys anyone could ever know."

"Then why isn't he here?" she's not being mean about this at all, she is genuinely concerned.

But that doesn't keep me from getting upset, "Ali." my eyes are flaming in anger now. "I don't care what you think about Andrew. I'm just trying to live my life with hopes that the girls are okay. I'm trying to accept the fact that I'm sitting here while they are probably going through hell. And I know what that feels like, Mona put me through a lot."

"I know that."

I half smile, but not in a nice way. "Oh that's right, because you've been alive for the last four years. My bad."

"Jessie..."

"You have no idea what I've been through."

"I'm _trying_ to understand."

"You will _never_ understand my life." I shake my head, "You may have seen what's been happening, but you'd never get it. I've gone through a lot since my family died, been through emotions that I could barely handle. Now being useless from not remembering is making me feel worse."

"You don't need to remember to be useful."

I try to hide a smile from how ridiculous she sounds, "Don't give me the friend lecture. It doesn't look good on you."

"Jessie, let me help."

I shake my head in frustration with her, "You trying to act like my friend is not making me feel any better."

She gives me a sad look, "I'm not acting like a friend, Jessie. I _am_ your friend."

Now I laugh, "Is that what you think?"

"I think we could help each other."

"I think we can't."

"We are the only ones left, Jessie. We have to look out for each other."

"Like you looked out for the girls? Who were _actually_ your friends. This is your fault."

"This is _A's_ fault."

"No, you sucked them all into more lies when you came back. Had you not done that then _A_ wouldn't have had so much more ammo on them."

"Jessie, I…"

"Alison." I take a very deep breath, "Think about what you say next. God forgive me, but if something stupid comes out of your mouth I'm jumping over this table and giving you a black eye."

She looks a little scared as she slowly says, "Please just give me a chance."

I start to pack my stuff, "I rather be back in that basement than have you as my friend." I throw my backpack onto my shoulder and head into the school.

Was that a bit harsh? Yea, maybe. Wanting to be in the grasp of _A_ again compared to being around her is an over exaggeration, but I wanted to get my point across.

Instead of going home I head to Uncle Byron's with Aunt Ella. She thought it would be better for me than being stuck at my place while Ezra is at work. I agree rather than argue as I walk into the house with her right behind me.

The first thing I do after talking a bit with Uncle Byron while avoiding the whole _how am I_ talk is head upstairs to see Mike. But before I can even get to his room though I pop into Aria's room. It looks like Uncle Byron is having a hard time looking in here since I have to open up the door and walk inside.

My heart drops as I look around her room. She's been gone for too long, I'm afraid to know how she'll be if we get her back. Get them all back.

I walk in more, sitting on her bed and grab onto her favorite stuffed animal. I look down at it in my hands, my heart thumping hard against my chest as I feel the heartbreak coming. My best friend is miss.

"Jessie?"

I look away and stare at the door, wiping away my tears. "Mikey."

He gives me a sad look, "I didn't realize you were here." he walks inside and sits beside me.

I take a deep breath, "I just got here." I look back at the stuffed animal in my hands.

"I miss her too." he pushes back my bangs to make me look at him.

"What if _A_ is hurting her, Mikey?"

"You know she's tough, she can handle what is thrown at her."

I shake my head, "You saw that video sent to me. We have no idea what this person is really capable of now that _A_ has a hold of them in this way."

He tries to smile, "She's going to be fine."

I take a few deep breaths, nodding. "Right."

For a good minute we are so quiet we can hear his parents talking. Then he grabs my hand and pulls me out the door. So I close it behind us and follow him to his room, playing video games.

"So how are you?" He finally asks.

I look away from the TV, smiling. "I'm good."

"Are you really, or are you just acting brave."

I laugh, "No, I'm okay."

"Promise?"

I smile, "Yea. School is still an adjustment for me to get used to. But I'm okay. I swear."


	80. Chapter 80

**Hey everyone. Sorry for taking longer than usual to upload, falling behind on my stories from being busy.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars. All credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**

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School the following day is the usual of the stares, whispers, laughs. It's starting to make my temper rise every time I see another non sympathetic person give me a look. Or one of the others bumping me into my locker just for the fun of it. Somehow I haven't seen Blake, but it's only a matter of time right? But despite my warnings Alison has my back once again whenever she's around with people bothering me. It's getting harder to dislike her when she keeps defending me and has them scared now to even come close when she's near me, which is definitely a help.

"Caleb, what's going on with _A_ plans?" I ask when I see him walking into the courtyard during lunch.

He eyes me as I grab the seat across from him at one of the tables, "Nothing."

"Oh come on. Don't tell me you agree with Toby."

"To keep you safe? You bet your ass I am."

"Caleb..."

"The others are missing, Jessie. For way too long. You were lucky that you were only gone for a few days. We can't risk _A_ taking you again."

"I'll say the same thing I said to Toby, it's not likely to happen when I was freed on purpose."

"The purpose being that you almost died."

I slowly shake my head, "Look, I don't care what happens to me."

" _Well I do_."

"That's not so fair." Alison gets in as she sits to my right and his left. "She has every right to help out."

He gives her a look, " _A_ put her in a freaking _coma_."

"And now I'm not."

He gives me a look, " _No_."

"Caleb, I'm _fine_. Don't overthink it."

Alison side looks at me, her eyes kind of look sad. It's like she can see passed my brave stage. "Yea, just give her a chance. I'm sure she has some good ideas."

I slightly smile at her, then look back at him. "Maybe you guys can help me trigger my memories."

His face turns pale, "I'd never want you to remember the physical stuff you went through, Jessie. I saw that video, and that's enough to be grateful that you forgot all that."

"I get it. But what about the in between moments?"

"What about it." he asks in confusion.

"What if there are things to piece together where the girls are. What if I _was_ with them at some point."

He thinks about this, "Even if you were I rather not risk you remembering every detail of what happened. You've been traumatized enough for a lifetime."

I take a breath, "Fine. Then can I at least know your thoughts on what you guys are processing while planning."

He sighs, debating for a few seconds. Then he says, "Well if Andrew is _A_ …"

I squeeze my fingers between my eyes to my nose, closing my them in frustration. " _He's_ _not_." I look at him.

"Okay, forget it." Caleb shakes his head, "If we can't even agree on that possibility, then there's no point in you helping." He gets up and grabs his lunch, walking out of the courtyard.

I shake my head, slamming my good fist onto the table. "Damn it!" everyone looks at me like I'm crazy, but I don't care.

"Whoa." Alison says, "Chill out."

I look away from the other kids, her old self is not even there anymore as she looks concerned. "I'm tired of them acting like I'm weak."

She shakes her head, "They don't think you're weak. They are scared for you."

"Well I'm done sitting on the sidelines. I'm helping whether they let me or not."

"Jessie, no. You can't go through anymore trauma."

I grit my teeth, trying not to yell. "I'm fine."

"You were in a coma for like, four days. A seizure can be triggered again at any time."

" _I don't care_."

"You should care, because it could be worse the second time around. _Fatal_."

I shake my head in anger, "They've been missing for almost a month and I've been treated like a fragile child since I got home. I can't think of a _maybe_ seizure when they are still trapped with _A_."

She takes a deep breath, eyeing me for a few seconds. "Fine. But then I'm helping."

"No." I shake my head, "Over my freaking dead body."

"Don't joke like that."

"You aren't helping me."

"My ass I'm not."

"I don't need your help."

"Oh no?"

" _No_."

She smiles, "Then where would you begin on this _A_ trail?"

I watch her for a few seconds, realizing that I have no idea. "Don't worry about it."

We argued about this subject for so long that I ended up late for my next class. I wasn't being able to convince her otherwise to leave this alone. So she's in this with me. It was either that or letting her spill to the boys. God I hate that she still has her evil side.

After school she wants me to come over to her place, which is weird in itself but she says that she has something that may help start us off.

"Aren't you tired of them following us?" I ask her as we start walking when meeting up in front of the school.

She turns around to where I'm looking to see that Toby and her officer escort are both behind us in their cars as we walk to her place. The look on Toby's face is nothing but suspicion.

"Yea."

"Me too. I'm so annoyed."

"It's their job, Jay."

I look at her, "Don't call me that."

"Sorry. I heard Kelly say it."

"Because she's my friend."

She takes a deep breath, looking around as she walks. "What are you going to tell Toby on why you are with me?"

"I'll take care of that later. What do you have that I need to go to your house?"

"Letters from when I was being framed. I found them in my attic, told the girls to hide it in my room where no one could find them before they got arrested."

"Like the letter from Bethany Young?"

She nods, "That was a planted one. I've never seen that before. But there were also ones that I apparently wrote too. Those letters weren't even in my handwriting. If they weren't so one minded to pin everything on me they would have looked harder to find the rest of the planted evidence. They would have noticed that detail."

"And these letters are all the evidence you have to convince me that you're helpful?"

"Can't you just trust me."

"After all the hell you put me through and what you did to Spencer? No, not really."

We get to her house and I wait for her to unlock the door. As she's doing that I look to the side and watch as both cops park their cars in front of the house. Then I feel her pull onto my arm to follow her inside. No one is here besides us as we head up the stairs to her room. I was right, it is nicer during the day.

She closes the door behind us, walking to one of her walls and opens up the vent. "You can sit."

I look around, deciding that her bed is probably the safest place. I feel so uncomfortable here, hanging out with the one girl I never wanted to be around. Then she sits beside me and hands me a box. I open it up to see letters written, pulling a few out at a time. There's some from Bethany to Alison on how happy she is for being her friend, which is weird because I was told that they found a recording on how pissed off she was about Alison being around. Or am I mixing that up with the one they found about Mrs. D?

I set those down and check one that was from Alison. It is asking Bethany to come and meet with her on Labor Day, the day they _both_ went missing.

"See." she points to it, then she grabs a piece of paper and starts to write one of the sentences down. "The writing is different."

I grab it from her and put them together, switching my eyes back and forth to each one. To my sadness, she's right. "Any ideas who's writing it is then?" I turn back to her.

She shakes her head, "Not a clue."

"So if we find out who wrote these…"

"We find _A_."

I nod in agreement, then my heart sinks for a second. Her face goes into confused mode when she sees my face as it goes into realization.

"What is it?"

"The video."

"What video?"

"The one that _A_ sent me a couple weeks ago. The one where I was shown what happened to me."

Now her eyes go a little sad, still seeming confused. "I don't see how reliving your torture is going to help."

I shake my head, "No." I jump to my feet to go get the flash drive out of my backpack. I decided to back it up incase _A_ tried to delete my texts like when Hanna tried to speak up before she got arrested. "Not of what happened to me. The part where _A_ put up that note."

"I don't get it, Jessie."

I look at her, "Did no one show you?"

She just shakes her head.

I walk back to her, holding the usb drive in my hand. " _A_ held up a note of some kind to the camera before tasering me. It looked like it was written by _hand_."

Her eyes bug out, "So you're trying to see if it matches."

"If it matches then at least we know they're not two different people like the girls thought. It will narrow down the suspect list to one again."

"You're a genius."

I shrug, "It happens on occasion."

She laughs, "For someone who has gone through a lot in your life, you always manage to have a good sense of humor."

I start to turn a little red from getting a compliment from someone who has been an enemy for so long. Usually when she compliments someone it's her way to bring them down. Because she'd find a way to reverse it in a snap of a finger.

She slightly smiles at me from my reaction and then gets up to grab her laptop from her desk. I hand her the drive and she plugs it into the side, the files section pops up and I point to the one I saved it under. Once she clicks on it I have to turn away, because I can't go through seeing this again. So instead I get up and start to pace, hearing my own screams and have to close my eyes to keep myself from panicking.

"There." she says, making me look over at her when the noise goes silent. "If you want her to stay alive, you need to do what I say." she reads it then looks up at me, her eyes saddening.

I nod, "Yea, that's it."

She looks down at the paper beside her and puts it up against the computer screen. Then she shakes her head, "The note is too small to compare it." she looks back at me, "We might have to ask Caleb to blow the image up."

I shake my head, "No. I'll get a major earful from all of them if they find out we are doing this."

"Not if I tell them it's me doing it for your benefit."

I eye her, "You think they are going to believe that you are helping me for me and not for you."

She slowly looks away from me, I may have overdone it. "It's my only hope to be trusted again. I'm tired of being the enemy in my own friendships."

I take a deep breath and then nod, "Fine. But _only_ Caleb. If Ezra finds out he'll know I put you up to it, he knows me well. As for Toby, he'd want to tell Tanner. I'm tired of her shoving everything he gives her aside like it's a piece of scrap."

"I don't think she's doing that anymore. She knows all this is serious now."

I shake my head, "She questioned _me_ as if I was hiding something when I showed the message I got from _A_ when I got those videos. I won't give her the chance to make it seem like it's no big deal. She should have always thought this was serious."

"Now _that's_ my fault."

I walk over to the window and see that both of our police guys are still there. Toby is being a nosy pants and has his head sticking out his window. He notices me right away and puts his hands up in a "what are you doing?" way.

"Jessie."

I turn away from the window and look at her, "Yea?"

"We will get them back, you know that right?"

I take a breath, half smiling. "Of course."

She puts the note back to the side, looking at the screen. "Do you mind if I watch the rest?"

My heart sinks, then I take a breath and nod. "S-Sure." I slide my foot back and forth on her floor, trying not to let myself get overwhelmed. "Can I get some water?"

She half smiles, knowing that I just want to leave the room. "Yea, help yourself."

I start to bite the inside of my cheek as I walk out, not wanting to lose it.

I head downstairs, trying to remember where the kitchen is from when I was here that one night. Everything is different looking in the light, but I find it. Then a slamming of the door comes and scares the hell out of me for a second, making me turn to the noise.

I'm thinking about heading back towards the front to get to the stairs when Jason walks in. He jumps from the sight of me, half smiling. "Oh, hey."

"H-Hi."

"Jessie, right?"

I slowly nod, "Yea."

"Keeping Ali company?"

I half smile, "I guess you can say that."

He walks closer, "That's nice of you, especially since you both have the same friends."

I slowly nod, "Right."

"Jessie!" I hear Alison's voice yell from upstairs.

I don't like the way she yelled my name like that as I turn back to him, "I gotta go."

He smiles, "See you around?"

I slightly smile, "Sure."

I turn around and head out of the kitchen, walk to the stairs and get to the top. I have a bottled water in my hand, sipping from it when I walk inside. The look on her face when I see her looks alarming.

"You okay?"

"I have an idea. But you're going to hate me. Uh...more. Hate me more."

I try to hide a laugh, she seems to finally got my feels towards her. "Okay?"

"Well…" she starts to rub her finger at the top of her laptop as if nerves. "How many times have you watched this video of you?"

"A couple times...but heard it a few more times with everyone wanting to check it out."

She gives me a worried look, "I think we should have you watch it more "

My heart sinks, "W-What, why?"

"You want to trigger your memories, right? Maybe this is how."

I shake my head, "I don't know if I can do that."

"You have to try, Jessie. This may be the only way."

I take a deep breath, nodding. "Okay."

She gives a sad smile, "I'm sorry."

 _I'm sure you are_. I think, but don't say it. "Whatever, let's get this over with."

Let's just say that I had more anxiety over this than actually triggering anything useful. The sound of me screaming makes my head spin, the electricity of the taser makes me stomach ache. But what makes me feel really sick is the way he or she just stares at me with what I'm sure is no remorse. So demented that all I can think of is what if they didn't let the police know. I would be dead right now.

"One more time." she says after watching it six times in a row. We were even trying to see if there were any clues in the surroundings of me and _A_ , but not much we could notice.

I shake my head, "I can't."

"You can. You got this."

I take a breath and look at the screen as she pressed the play button again, watching me struggle around in the rope. Headphones on my head as I yell, getting gagged, tasered.

"Hey." her voice echoes in my ears not long after it ends again, my breathing trying to go back to normal now. "Jessie."

I take a deep breath, my eyes connecting with hers when she shifts my face to look at her. The seriously concerned look on her face is kind of weird to see, her blue eyes have clear fear in them. I've never seen her like that before.

"Breathe."

"It…hurts."

"What does."

"M-My chest."

She sets her computer to the side, kneeling down in front of me. She sets both hands on each of my knees, "Think of something happy and tell me about it."

I try to breathe through the pain, "My family."

"Name them."

"Mom...dad, Jeff."

"Good. Who's your best friend."

"Aria."

"Boyfriend."

"N-Noel."

She looks at my cast and touches it, "Did you know that I broke my arm once?"

I shake my head, "No."

She smiles, "Did it when I was a kid. Not a fun experience."

"I've broken so many I lost count."

"Clearly that doesn't keep you from being daring with sports and skateboarding."

I laugh, shaking my head. "Not in the slightest."

She rubs my leg, "Better?"

I take a deep breath, realizing that I'm able to again. "Yea. I'm good."

She smiles, "Good." Then she gets sad again, "I'm sorry. That was a stupid idea."

I shake my head, "No, it was smart. I would have had to try eventually."


	81. Chapter 81

**I do not take credit for Pretty Little Liars.**

 **All of it belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review!**

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When Alison asked Caleb to help with the video enhancement for the note he did find out that I had a say in the plan. The only reason why he figured that out was because he knew that none of them had ever showed her the video, and it was never released to the public, so I was the only one who made sense. He didn't ask questions to how she got me to show her this video, he just went with it because he thought it was a good plan. So as of now we know that the handwriting does in fact match the planted letters, but the problem is finding out who wrote them. Right now he is running a software to see if he can get a hit on it. So at school he pulled me aside to let me know what they were up to. But he still isn't giving more details on plans with the guys.

"Jessie."

I look up from my food during lunch as all three of us are sitting at a table in front of the school. Caleb is watching me. Ever since he got back from Ravenswood his presence has been both good and bad. Good because he's familiar, but bad because his attitude had changed. So sometimes I'm not sure which Caleb to expect. Even his appearance had changed. His short hair and scruffed beard makes him look more grown up, but it's not like him. Something had happened over there, but he still never came to me about anything.

"Yea?" I ask confused.

"You okay?"

I nod, "Great. Why?"

He shrugs, "You just look out of it."

I smile, "No, I'm fine."

He doesn't seem convinced, "It's about the video isn't it? You're disappointed that we haven't figured out who it is."

I slightly smile, "I knew it wouldn't be that easy."

"But I know it's bothering you. Knowing that we are so close to seeing who hurt you, yet at the same time so far away."

Alison nudges him in the ribs, making him wince. He turns to her and gives a look like he doesn't understand why she did that. "That's not making her feel better." she whispers, but I can still hear her.

He looks back at me and gives a sad look, "Sorry."

I half smile, "It's fine. Honest."

After school I open my locker, staring into my mirror at the spot I used to have stitches on my forehead from what we all assume may have been from the car accident. That is also the conclusion we came up with on how my arm ended up in a cast, because the video already shows me in a cast and with a head injury. So unless _A_ did something to me before the cameras rolled I'll never know for sure.

I swipe my finger across the faded scar, wishing I could remember. I feel completely useless not being able to give everyone more details and clues on what happened those three days. Then I take a deep breath and look away, switching my books from my backpack to my locker and vise versa.

"Jay!"

I turn to the side, Annabeth is running this way from down the hall. She's so outta breath when she gets to me that she has to put her hands onto her knees and takes deep breaths.

"You okay?"

She takes another deep breath, "Noel…." she straightens up, trying to breathe.

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, "What about him?"

"Him and Blake...are having a row...in the courtyard."

My heart sinks, closing my locker and bolt down the hallway. I go to turn to the doorway but over run and have to backtrack a bit. When I get into the yard everyone there are surrounding both boys as they circle around each other covered in blood. Noel has a bloody nose and Blake's lip is busted open.

"Hey!"

They both turn to me. Noel's face drops when he notices I'm here, but Blake takes the opportunity to punch him in the stomach while he's distracted.

"Stop!"

Before I can do anything someone grabs onto my shoulder, spinning me around. "Hey, Squirt."

My eyes flame in anger to see Emma, "What did you do?"

She smiles, "Nothing. This one's all on them. But I love watching the aftermath of boys being boys."

I ball my good fist at my side, holding back my urge to deck her. "I don't believe you."

She laughs, looking down at my hand. "Gonna hit me?" she gives me a shove, "Go ahead." I don't do anything so she pushes me again, "Come on, do it."

I take a breath, "No."

She smiles, "Coward." she pushes me, "You know you want to."

When she shoves me again it's harder than the other times, making me almost trip over my own feet. But I catch my footing, my anger getting the better of me as I run forward and pin her up against the wall. "Don't test me." my eyes flame in anger and I'm breathing heavy from how pissed I am.

She laughs, "You think you're tough." now she pushes me off her and straightens up from the wall.

I'm prepared for a fight now but when I see her hand go up I decide not to humor her efforts. So when she swings I manage to back up enough to make her miss and the momentum of her punch has her go forward.

I have to move to the side to avoid her as she knocks into the garbage can and topples over it. Everyone stares our way, noticing her on the floor covered in garbage and starts laughing at her.

The pure embarrassment on her face is enough to satisfy me as she gets up and leaves just as Annabeth finds me and grabs onto my good arm.

"You okay?"

I smile, nodding. "Great."

Then Mr. Brooks and my childhood babysitter, turned teacher, Jake Stuart run through the door. "What's going on here!" Brooks yells, pulling Blake away from Noel's headlock.

"He admitted to hurting Jessie!" Noel yells as Jake holds his arms back.

My heart sinks, making my brain go wild from overthinking.

"You're delusional." Blake tells him.

"Stay away from my girlfriend!"

"Let's go." both teachers tell the guys as they pull them away.

I watch them both get pulled this way, Blake making eye contact with me and evilly smiles. "See something you like?" he whispers as he walks out the door.

My heart sinks, then my mind flashes to what feels like a long lost memory. It's not about the night he tried to hurt me, or at least not fully. It feels like something I've gone through but just can't remember, as if it's trying to get to the surface.

" _Brace yourself." a man's voice tells me through a hood at a desk full of screens. Then an echo of sounds in my head, CRASH, the sound of a car accident, Mona's voice comes from the night she took me, then Blake's voice from the night he hurt me, CRASH!_

" _No!" my own voice comes now, looking at a hooded figure. "Stop!" I look down, my arms are pinned to my sides, my legs tied as I try to get out. "Help!"_

My breath gets caught in my throat when I come back to reality, my head spinning as Annabeth gets in front of me. "Hey." she has a concerned look, making me look down at her. "You're okay. Just ignore him."

I take a deep breath, shaking my head. I'm trying to hold onto the memory to make sense of it but the look of concern on her face makes it leave. "Him being here is not okay, Annabeth."

She watches me for a few seconds, like she's debating something. "Is Noel telling the truth. Did your ex hurt you?"

I take a deep breath to calm myself down, I never told her what he did. So I slowly nod my head as she sits me down to relax. "Yea."

"He was abusive?"

I look above her head and see Alison, she seems to notice me but is cautious whether to come over. Then she makes up her mind and walks this way, "He tried to rape me." I turn back to Annabeth.

Her mouth slowly drops. "What?"

"Hey." Alison says in a sad tone, sitting with us. "Sorry that went down."

"He tried to _rape_ you." Annabeth says before I can answer, furry in her eyes.

I make eye contact with Alison for a quick second, her eyes saddening. "Yes." I look back at Annabeth.

"Why wouldn't you tell me that? I've seen him around school, I've _talked_ to him when I should have been hitting him."

I shake my head, "It's the past."

"That is not an excuse!" she yells loud enough to make me jump. She's breathing heavy in anger, "Why isn't he in jail if he tried to hurt you?"

I take a breath, "He was in juvie for a few months. But somehow he was allowed back in school."

Her eyes flame in anger, "This is not right."

"It's Rosewood." Alison says, making us both look at her.

She take as breath, turning to me. "What else don't I know?" she looks at Ali and gives her a mean look, "Besides that you've all of a sudden become close to your childhood bully."

"Annabeth." Ali says, "The past is the past. We are moving through our differences."

" _After_ you threw your other mates under the bus." she eyes her, "Yea, Jessie tells me things. Because _I'm_ her mate."

" _Annabeth_." I say to her.

She looks at me, "Don't defend her."

"Please calm down."

"Not till you stop being a git."

"Whoa, Annabeth."

" _What don't I know_?" she is more angry now.

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes for a second. "Nothing."

" _Nothing_?" she shakes her head a few times, "So finding out that Mona kidnapped you last year from everyone at school when you went missing for three days isn't something you thought I should have known?"

"I…"

"Or that you got stabbed by some crazy guy and almost died?"

"How did…"

"I mean, you trusted me enough to tell me you were adopted because your parents died, that you had a brother that died too. But you don't trust me to get deeper into your life?"

"Annabeth, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

I look around, everyone is staring at us, making me heat up in embarrassment. "I don't like having to relive real life nightmares I've put behind me. It was hard enough trying to get through them."

She takes a deep breath, "Well, I'm part of your life. I don't like finding things like that out from other people."

I watch her, not having time to react to this before she gets up and storms away. Leaving me with my mouth hanging open as I turn to Alison, who I forgot was here for a second. "I've never seen her so upset."

"She's not wrong, Jessie."

I give a sad look, "I know. But I can't talk about my life like that. Everyone who is close to me knows that it's hard for me to open up."

"Then you need to pull her aside and explain better. Then do your best to put your insecurities over this subject aside and tell her the hard parts of your life through _your_ mouth, in _your_ words. Not through others."

I slowly nod, not being able to believe that she just gave me advice. "Right."

It gets quiet, " _Now_ , Jessie."

"Oh." I stand up, "Thanks."

She smiles, "Call me if you need to talk."

I watch her for a few seconds. I still don't fully see eye to eye with her, but at least she's seeming to be different enough to put my issues with her aside and helping me. For once it's not about her. Then I get up and go after Annabeth.

Sadly she had completely taken off, she isn't at her locker and not around the front of the school. So I have no choice but to try and call her.

" _Can't get to the mobile. Leave a message if you fancy a chat_." her voicemail comes when she ignores my call.

"Annabeth." I take a breath, "Please call me. I'm sorry."

I head home thinking about opening up the store. This would be the first time I'd be doing this after everything that's happened. Not only because I was recovering from my kidnapping, but because I've been too distracted that the girls are still missing after a month. Can you really blame me for not being able to concentrate on anything else?

When I'm just about to stop in front of the alley between mine and Ezra's place Ezra walks out of it. He's still staying with me, not taking any chances in having me by myself until I feel safe again.

When he walks out though I almost skate right into him and have to dead stop, flying off my board.

"Shit, sorry, Jessie." he grabs onto me when I practically end up in his arms.

I straighten up, shaking my head as I back up and grab my board from the floor. "No problem. I shouldn't have been skating on the sidewalk."

He smiles, "How was school?"

My face drops, "Sucked."

He gives me a sad look, "What happened?"

"Noel got into a fist fight with Blake."

"Are you serious?" his eyebrows go up.

I nod, shaking my head in frustration. "Right in the middle of the courtyard. How stupid can you be to get into a fight at school."

Of course I'm being a total hypocrite, because I've gotten into my fair share of them on school property.

"Must have been serious for Noel to react that way." he says, shrugging as if no big deal.

"It was."

"Wanna share?"

I shake my head, "No. I just want to forget it happened."

"Jessie, don't hold back your emotions."

"I'm not. I just have nothing to say about it right now."

He slowly nods, "Well I'm here when you need to let out some steam."

I smile, nodding. "Gotcha."

He pulls me into a hug, "Don't let Blake ruin your life."

I close my eyes to his touch, resting my head on his chest. "I don't have time to let him ruin things when I'm too worried about the girls."

"I know." he kisses me on the top of my head, "Hang in there. We are working on this, I promise."

I nod, looking up at him. "I know."

I decide to open up the store after all. I could use the distraction. I've been closed for so long that when I walk inside the place is a total mess. I'm running around all over the place trying to clean up the best I can with a broken arm. I manage to restock all the shelves before I officially opened. Then while it was slow I looked through the storage to see if there was anything I needed to buy.

I'm now in the middle of helping a kid and his dad get him his first baseballs equipment when the ding of the bell comes. Footsteps shuffle in and my name gets called.

"One second, Noel." I say half heartedly, a little ticked off at the fact that he got into that fight with Blake.

I see him pop into the aisle I'm standing in with my customers. "You're mad."

"Not now."

"Jessie."

I grit my teeth in a bit of anger, but try not to raise my voice. "I'm with customers."

He gives a sad look, "We need to talk."

"I understand that. But I'm busy."

"Then…"

"Meet me in my office."

He gives a sad look, then walks out of the aisle.

I finish up helping them grab what they need, walk them to the front counter to ring up their items and then they are on their way. Once I watch them walk out the door I head over to it, locking it behind them. I turn the sign to closed, turn off the store lights and then walk over to the hall behind the counter.

When I walk into my office Noel is sitting on the couch, looking through his phone. He looks up when he hears my steps and I see that his nose, one eye, and jaw are all bruised.

I just shake my head and walk over to my desk, sitting on the chair and start going through my computer. "You're an idiot."

"Seriously? You're upset with me."

"Damn right I am, Noel."

"I stood up for you."

I look at him, a pissed off look on my face. "Fighting is not what I want my boyfriend doing for me. Especially not _my_ battles."

"He started it!"

"Then you walk away! How many times have you told me to do that? To _ignore_ people bothering me."

He shakes his head, "Babe, he told me that he did try to rape you. That he wasn't sorry for doing it. That you _deserved_ it because you were being a bitch. Did you want me to just stand back and listen to that?"

I look away and stare back to my computer. I close my eyes to keep myself from reacting to that. "No." I simply say.

"And I didn't." my chair gets turned to the side and I look at him as he kneels down. "I won't be that person who allows people to talk about you. Blake got what he deserved. It was long overdo."

I slightly smile, putting my hand up and rub his hair. "I appreciate you sticking up for me."

He grabs both my hands and kisses them, "I'll always be there for you. We will get him out of school, even town if there's a way."

"How?"

He smiles, "I had talked to my dad the other day. We are seeing if there's a way to reverse whatever his uncle did to get everything that was against him thrown away like garbage. Because there is no way any of it was legal."

I smile, then lean in and kiss him on the lips. The butterflies I love to feel swarm my stomach, then pull away. "I love you."

The glow of happiness in his eyes makes my heart melt, "And I love you." he straightens up, still on his knees and grabs my face in his hands. Then he kisses me.

In the end we wind up going upstairs. I knew Ezra wasn't going to be home, so we go to my room. I'm sure you can imagine what happened from there.


	82. Chapter 82

**Hello, here's another chapter for you all.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars.**

 **Credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please let me know what you think in a review.**

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I walk Noel to the door to go home when it starts to get late, a little upset that he won't be at school tomorrow since he got himself suspended for a couple weeks. The only good thing about that fight is that it got Blake suspended too, so he'll be away from me at school.

"I'll keep you posted on how we plan to permanently keep him from you. It's going to be harder to do that." he tells me

I half smile, "It's okay."

"It's not, he needs to be held accountable for what he did. Not just juvie for a lesser sentence than he should have gotten and then clean slate as if he didn't do anything."

"It's Rosewood."

"That shouldn't be an excu..."

I stop him from talking by pulling him into a kiss, then I look up and smile at him. "Don't worry so much. I'm trying not to think about it."

He slightly smiles, sadness in his eyes as he turns around and leaves. Once he does I text Toby to come upstairs. He's been in his car all day watching my place while I've been running around in the store and having private time with my boyfriend. So the least I could do is allow him in for coffee. Being a twenty-four hour escort is definitely no easy job.

In the middle of us talking my phone rings, and I pull it out of my pocket. When I open up the text I see it's a blocked number with an attachment. My breath gets caught in my throat and I look at him with a scared look.

"What is it?"

" _A_ sent another video."

He gets closer to me on the couch and looks at my phone as I press play. For a second it's too dark to notice, then a light comes on and we both gasp in surprise.

"Oh my God." I say in fear.

It's Mona. She is in a dark hole that's big and wide enough for her to stand, but not shallow for her to get out. She looks terrified, dirty all over her clothes. She looks like she's been through a lot. The look in her scared eyes breaks my heart as she stares up at the camera.

"Help me" she says, her voice shaky. "I won't disobey you again."

Footsteps come, seeming to walk away but the light is still on her.

"No! Please help me!"

The camera starts to zoom in closer, her face all dirty and stained in tears. Then something gets thrown into the deep hole, making her scream in terror.

"No! Stop!"

Whatever _A_ threw in there is crawling to her, making her panic as she backs up into the wall. Then the screen goes blank.

My mouth is hanging open, "This is insane."

"Why is _A_ only giving you glimpses of the girls being alive?" he looks at me, his face pale.

I shake my head, "I don't know." I look down, rubbing my thumbs to the phone. "To torture me?"

"Like you haven't been through enough?"

"I don't remember what I went through. Sending me videos is probably getting me back for forgetting."

The front door slams open as Ezra and Caleb storm into my place, making us both jump. It's not a surprise seeing them come in without my permission, because just like I have an extra key to his place it was only fair I gave him one too since he's been here. I didn't realize that Ezra wasn't here all day though because they were together. But what takes me off guard is when that door flies open Alison walks in right behind them.

"We need to talk." Caleb tells Toby.

"Where is your escort?" Toby asks Alison as he gets up, confusion on his face.

"Outside."

"Well I'm glad you didn't ditch him."

She slightly smiles.

"So we need to talk." Ezra tells him.

"Yes." Toby looks at him, "You said that already."

"It has to do with a plan we thought of to find _A_."

Toby looks at me, then to them. "We agreed that anything involving this subject Jessie wouldn't be in."

"I _want_ to be in."

"After what you went through?" He shakes his head, "No."

"It's my decision, Toby."

"I agree with her." Alison says.

I look at her, smiling that at least she has my back. "What did you guys come up with?"

Turns out that tomorrow the police is going to have Alison make a public statement about the girls and Andrew for the press to see if he bites on the bait of her not wanting an escort anymore. But in reality the cops will be keeping an eye on her inside and waiting to see if he shows up. I'm of course not happy about them trying to trick Andrew into coming out into the open since I'm positive that he's not _A_ , but I'm tired of arguing about it.

"So then what?" I ask confused on the couch, leaning up against Ezra. "Let's say _A_ does think that she's home alone tomorrow night and shows up, how are you guys going to get to this person before the police do?"

"That's where our plan comes into play." Caleb says from the floor, sitting beside Alison while Toby stays standing. "We are going to make a distraction to get them off the trail of him being in one place, but actually will be meeting with Ali somewhere else."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion. "How?"

They all look at each other, me and Toby in the dark of what they came up with. "We have to pretend to be _A_." Alison tells me, "The guys will contact me, make a clue that the cops will figure out has to do with the apple farm while I sneak out and head to the Kissing Rock."

The Kissing Rock is the spot to be for make out sessions with the person you like. Most of the time it's popular kids taking their crushes though.

"And how will _A_ know that's where you'll be?" I ask.

"Hints will be in my speech." she says, "They'll see it on TV and then hopefully take that as me wanting to be helpful, I guess you can say."

"Then we'll make sure that Ali is being tracked in case _A_ decides to send her somewhere after."

I shake my head, taking a breath "That's a really bad idea."

Ezra shifts his arm from resting on the top of the sofa to wrapping his arms around me and tightens his grip in comfort, "It's the best we got."

"Then where do I come into play?" I look up at him, then everyone else. "I'm assuming I'm part of this if I'm being told."

Toby has the look of wanting to argue, but he seems to know better than to do so by now. "I'd volunteer to be her partner during this plan but I can't. I know you said boys as in all of us to contact you as _A_. But if Tanner is planning to have _A_ come to the house then she's going to want every officer on call, so I won't be able to."

"Then you'll have to come with us." Caleb tells me, "But you have to make sure you stay close. I won't forgive myself if we get you killed."

I nod, "Then that changes the plan a bit."

"How?" she asks.

"If Toby ends up being one of the cops inside with you then he can pretend to realize he figured out at the last minute the clue from " _A_ " after you sneak out of the house."

She smiles, "Told you you're a genius."

After this conversation I show them all the video I was sent. They have the same reaction me and Toby did, making their worries even higher. This is so messed up.

So the following day I watch the news in my apartment with Mike as Alison makes her heartbreaking speech about wanting the girls to come back. About how someone had framed her and the girls for Mona's murder when she's been alive all this time. She thanked him for sparing my life and allowing me to come home, then pleaded with Andrew to let the girls go too.

"I can't believe they think it's Andrew." he says.

"They're wasting their time, because it isn't him."

"I know."

I get up from the couch and walk over to the kitchen, "You're the only one who has said that."

"He made you happy. If he is who they think he is then that image of him will be ruined for you."

Then my phone rings, making me jump a bit from having it on loud. So I take it out of my pocket and check to see that it's Annabeth. She had ignored me all of yesterday and today. Ceramics was awkwardly silent between us.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Hey."

It gets quiet, then she says. "Can we talk?"

I slowly nod to myself, a little alarmed from her tone. "Sure."

"Come over?"

"Be there in fifteen."

Mike drops me off at her house. Since I don't have a car anymore after the accident my only transportation is my skateboard, but he figured since he had his dad's car he's take the liberty to give me a ride. Noticing that Mona's house is right there makes my insides go into a knot. I can't believe she's been alive all this time.

After I calm myself with a deep breath I look at him, the sadness in his eyes being there as he stares at her house. So I kiss him on the cheek, thanking him for the ride and that everything is going to be okay and then get out. I don't know why I'm so nervous, but I suck it up and walk to Annabeth's front door. Then ring the doorbell and wait.

The door flies open and instead of looking at a centimeters shorter than me girl, I'm looking up at a taller than me guy. Same colored red hair and dark blue eyes as Annabeth.

"Uh, hi. Is Annabeth home?"

The guy smiles at me, "Yea, she's upstairs. I'm her brother, Darren."

"Jessie."

This is the first time we are meeting. He's been dorming at school in Philadelphia, but I think he's on spring break or something now.

"It's nice to finally meet the girl my sister doesn't shut up about." He smiles and moves to the side so I can walk inside.

My face starts to burn up a bit, "She's one of my good friends."

He starts to walk, "I'm glad that she found someone to confide in. She's always been shy."

I follow behind him, heading up the steps. "Me too."

He gets me to his sister's room, saying goodbye and then heads down the hall. He goes to what I'm assuming is his room as I knock on her door and hear the sound of feet hitting the floor, the footsteps walking closer. The door opens up and my heart starts to thump fast all of a sudden.

"I'm sorry about the other day." I blurt out, wanting to get that in before she could yell at me. But then my heart drops, because she has a dazed look on her face. I've never seen her like that before. "You okay?"

She shakes her head, walking away. "Billy broke up with me."

Trying to calm her down was a bit harder than I thought. She's such a strong person that I didn't expect the sensitive side of her. They dated for a little over a month, which isn't long enough to really suck her into the relationship. It's the fact that the asshole played her by cheating. In the end I succeed in keeping her busy and eventual change the subject to school, and me full out apologizing for what happened.

"It's okay."

I shake my head, "It's not. You were right, I should be able to come to you with this."

Now she shakes her head, "No, Jessie, seriously. All that I've found out sounded like a handful to handle. I can't expect you to relive it for my benefit."

I half smile, "Maybe I'll be able to someday."

Later on Ezra and Caleb come to pick me up, the plan about to come into play soon. Since all the cops are at Alison's they need to get her out of the house to track _A_ ourselves. So once we park they call her from a blocked number, playing some song that wouldn't make them realize till Toby says something at the last second. Whatever the song is should make them think that _A_ will grab her at the Campbell Apple Farm.

So I'm sitting in the backseat of Ezra's car as Caleb sets up his laptop to track things while we wait. We are parked somewhere behind her house where she'd have to go through some trees to get to it. The darkness of night makes it easier to keep his car out of sight.

My nerves is getting the better of me as I hit my hands on my knees to keep me busy, staring down at my hands.

"This is such a bad idea." I whisper to myself.

A hand goes to my hand, stopping me from playing with my knees.

I look up to see Ezra, "You can still go home. We aren't forcing you to do anything you don't want."

I half smile, Caleb turning around in his seat just as Alison hops into the car.

"It worked." she says as she closes the door. "They think the call was from _A_."

"It's a good thing we have Toby on the inside." I get out. I'm really hoping this is all not making us go into a trap.

The boys look at me with slight smiles, then Alison turns to me. "Thank you for helping."

I slowly nod, "If it helps find the girls and realize that Andrew isn't _A_ then I'll always be in."

Then Ezra's phone buzzes and he checks it, "Oh, it's Toby. Tanner sent everyone to the Campbell Apple Farm. We're in the clear."

They talk a little more as I check my phone. I tried to get ahold of Andrew earlier, asking him where he is. I wanted to see if he'd answer. I've been texting and calling him nonstop for the last few weeks and he's been nothing but silent. I'm honestly really worried about him. So when I see that I still haven't gotten an answer I reread our old texts, dazing out a little. How could he just take off like that? He's looking for Aria, but in the process he's making himself look guilty of something he hasn't done.

"Ali, listen." Caleb's voice brings me back as I look up from my phone, "We are going to be tracking you every step of the way."

He explains to her that there is a tracking device in the shoes that is in between me and her. That as long as she keeps them on we will be able to see where she is from his computer.

"Nice kicks." She says, grabbing them from beside us as she smiles at me.

I half smile back, "Just don't take them off. Okay?"

She takes a breath and nods, "Got it."

I half smile, slowly turning away from her. I stare out the window, could this actually work? Will we get the girls back finally after all this time being gone. How will they be? That's what scares me the most. If I learned anything from when I was taken by Mona is that it's not easy to forget what you've been through, especially not when it's _A_. Them being gone for a month may have them different, in a really bad way.

"Jessie." I turn my head, looking at Ezra in the driver's seat, "Breathe. Everything is going to be fine."

I slightly smile, nodding. "I know."

It takes us a bit to drive over to the Kissing Rock. It's over by the lake we go to in town, surrounded by woods. So we have to let her out at the edge of the woods so she can head to the rock.

"Be careful." Caleb tells her.

She nods, "I will. Stay close." the look on her face is scared and I can't say that I blame her. If we screw up, _A_ could take her too.

We all nod and then she gets out. Just as I'm watching her disappear behind a set of trees my phone rings. I look at it and see Toby's name flash.

"Hello?"

"Andrew might have been in town today." he is whispering, as if he doesn't want anyone to hear.

"What?"

The boys turn in their seats to me, giving me a concerned look.

"Tanner figured out that the apple farm was a dead end, so she had me and Barry look through some videos at the station. We were checking out the one where it shows the report after Ali's speech. A tall blond in a dark jacket and baseball cap walked by the camera."

"You saw it was him?"

"We aren't sure. Just got the back of his head."

"So you're just guessing."

"I'm just letting you know what Tanner believes. And she believes that Andrew is behind all this. There's a lot, and I mean _a lot_ of evidence against him, Jessie.""

I take a breath, trying not to get upset with him. He's just doing his job. "So what now?"

"The camera saw him jump into a dark blue car. We only got the last three plate numbers. Running them now."

I take another breath, "I don't know what you want me to say, Toby. I know it wasn't him. Unless he confesses, without being interrogated to that point, there's nothing to change my mind on his innocence."

"I understand."

"She's moving." Caleb says, looking behind to look at me.

"Did you hear that?" I ask Toby.

"Yea."

"Call you when we find something." then I hang up and we take off.

When we get to the area where the Brew is I shift myself closer to Caleb's seat and look at his computer. It's showing Ali's tracker heading out of town. How far out of town do we have to go before we find the potential area where the girls may have been all this time? Are they closer than we thought they were?

After awhile I start to get so agitated that I can't sit still. I start to bounce my legs around out of anxiety and end up drumming my fingers onto the back of his seat, still positioned in a way that allows me to see the screen. Now I'm thinking that me tagging along was such a bad idea as we get farther and farther away from Rosewood. I'm afraid we aren't going to come back.

Eventually I sit back, having to lay down from being a bit car sick after watching a computer screen for the last whatever amount of time. That's when I close my eyes and see flashes behind my closed eyelids, all fast paced.

 _Computer screens come and go, a black figure standing at them. My body is tied to a wooden pole, I can't escape._

" _Mm!"_

 _The black figure turns to me, but I can't hear if they're saying anything. The hooded area is blacked out. All I hear is me screaming through a gag in my mouth. Then I look at the screens, all five girls are staring up at cameras. Aria and Emily in one room, Spencer and Hanna in another, but they all look scared. Then there's Mona, except she looks satisfied._

 _There's a moment of fear in the pit of my stomach when they start to yell, but I can't hear them either. "Mm!"_

 _The dark figurer gets up this time and comes to me, something in their hand. The feeling of electricity goes through my entire body, my breath gets slow and all of a sudden I can't breathe, my body aches and I start to spit out foam._

"Jessie!"

My eyes shoot open, bolting up in my seat. My head is spinning from a headrush, a hand touches my leg and I jump. "Don't hurt me!"

"It's us!" Caleb's voice comes.

Now a hand rubs my arm as my vision comes back, "Jessie, it's just us. You're safe." this time it's Ezra.

I take deep breath, looking at both of them. My heart is thumping hard against my chest as I try to catch it again. They are staring at me with concern, yet fear. But it looks like they don't have much time to react on that when they tell me that Alison's tracker stopped moving and we have to go, _now_. So I don't hesitate to jump out of the car, rushing behind them to see that the car _A_ had Alison get into is just in the middle of the road, completely deserted. This is so not a good sign, because Ali is now missing and we have no idea where she is and all of her clothes she had been wearing were left behind. _A_ clearly forced her to change, they seem to know better than to trust her.

We all look at each other and then stare to the side, seeing her shoes pointing towards the trees. Caleb puts together that she put them that way for a reason, so we don't waste time but to run into the dark woods. Why is it always the woods?


	83. Chapter 83

**Hey everyone, here's another chapter for you guys. Sorry that it's taking longer to update lately.**

 **I do not own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**

* * *

I'm falling a bit behind with having shorter legs than them. They are both hustling through the trees so fast that I can't even keep up. Clearly my sports skills have gone down hill since most of the year I haven't been playing as often as I'm used to. I have pain in my side that I have to push down on with my fingers while I run, 'cause I'm out of shape from not working out for awhile.

Ezra turns around to me, seeing that I'm a good ten feet behind as I put my hands on my knees and gasp for air. "Jessie." he backtracks, helping me stand straight and makes me look at him. "Come on, you got this." he grabs onto my cast free hand and pulls me along, "We have to trace her tracks."

"What...if she's already gone?"

"You can't think like that."

It feels like forever that we are going through nothing but trees, the moon shining down on us enough to make the space we are running more visible. The wind is making the branches crack on trees as we stumble through dead leaves and twigs, looking to the side on occasion and hoping to see something useful. As long as _A_ isn't what pops up I think I'll be fine, because if A does I think I might shit my pants from fear. I may not remember what this person put me through, but the videos are enough for me to think twice about getting near them.

 _Please find the girls._ I think to myself, _Let everyone be okay._

Now all I can think of is how I regret allowing myself to be so upset with them for so long when Ali came back. So much time passed and once I allowed myself to get over my anger towards them I barely had any time at all before they disappeared. I should have known better after my family's death to allow myself to get so angry that I didn't want to talk or be around them. I'd do anything to see my family again and yet I took it for granted on not taking advantage of having my friends around, despite their stupidity,

I'm feeling a little sick now from being light headed and hot because of all the running. Even though it's a bit chilly out I'm wearing my basketball hoodie and it's making me heat up. But I don't stop as I keep his pace with Ezra as we run behind Caleb. I'm still holding onto Ezra's hand, so tight though that I'm sure I'm making him lose circulation in his fingers. But he doesn't seem to care.

On top of that I'm just about ready to completely give up, all the trees look the same. We could be going in a freaking circle for all we know as my energy starts to lessen more and more the longer we run around. I'll have them go without me, because I'm just slowing them both down.

Before I can say anything thought we get to a cleared path of the woods and find Ali standing there. Her face going from scared to relived when she sees us.

"Oh thank God." she says, taking a breath.

My heart leaps from seeing she's okay, but then it sinks when I see that she is wearing the same outfit she had on the night she went missing. The same jeans and yellow top, even the same shoes. This person is so demented that it shouldn't surprise me anymore, but it does.

Ezra lets go of my hand and we all walk towards her. "Are you okay?" he asks out of breath.

She nods, "I'm fine. But _A_ wanted me out here for a reason."

"How long have you been standing here?" I ask in confusion.

She shrugs, shaking her head. "Ten, maybe fifteen minutes?"

I look at all of them, "There's something wrong if _A_ hasn't grabbed you yet."

Ezra shakes his head, pacing back and forth. "I think _A_ sent us on a wild goose chase."

"Yea, wouldn't be the first time." Caleb says angrily.

"Let's get out of here." Ali says, turning around to leave.

I shake my head, looking around. There's something here, there has to be. Why would _A_ have Ali come all this way and go through the trouble to have her change into those clothes if he or she was just going to make us seem like we ended up wasting our time? They wouldn't allow Ali to be alone out here for this long and then just pass up the opportunity to grab her.

 _Where are you guys?_

Then a weird smell goes up my nose, making me turn around. The familiar scent of smoke, swarming me.

"Guys wait." I turn my head to where they were, but they are gone. "Son of a bitch." my stomach goes into a knot of now being out here by myself.

I look through the trees, squinting a bit to see where they could have walked off. But they are gone, and I don't hear their footsteps.

"Ezra!" I yell in a bit of fear to being out here alone. "Caleb! Ali!"

I take a deep breath, turning around when all of a sudden the sound of what you'd hear when a fire alarm goes off comes to my ears. That's when I notice a cloud of smoke seeping out of the ground. I run over to it and bend down onto my toes, moving some leaves out of the way to see a vent and a loud sound of a fire alarm from underneath.

"Guys!" I yell, "Guys!"

"Jessie!"

"Here! Look!"

Three separate bodies storm through the woods again, "Do you…"

"It's a fire alarm." I cut Ali off, "Right here!"

They run over to me, looking down at the vent. "It's coming from under ground!" Caleb yells.

"It's burning." Ali adds, bending down beside me.

"Hang on, hang on." Ezra says, running off to the side.

"Whoa, where are you going?"

He turns to me, "I'll be right back." then he takes off again, just being able to see him standing not far away. He seems to be staring into the branches of trees, "I see something." he looks at us, "Guys, over here."

Caleb jumps to his feet, running to where Ezra is. But Ali has to grab onto my hand to help me stand, 'cause my cast made my arm hurt a bit as I tried to do it myself. Then we run over with Caleb and Ezra.

"Call 911." Ezra says.

I grab my phone as I chase after the boys with Ali right beside me, dialing Toby's number. He doesn't answer his phone, which kind of makes me freak out as I hang up and actually call the police.

"911, what's your emergency."

I give the operator all the information I know, trying to keep pace with the others as they get ahead of me and pass through trees that hide a clearing up ahead. Just as the person on the line is telling me to stay on with her and to describe my surroundings, it goes dead. I check my phone, seeing that the service couldn't pick up a signal. Great, just what we need at a time like this.

"Aria!" I hear Ezra's voice as I start to run now.

"Oh my God, Hanna!" Caleb yells next.

When I practically trip my way into the clearing I see them open up a metal door, smoke coming out from it. The sound of multiple people coughing comes to my ears, making me freeze in my place.

My heart is racing as I watch the smoke clear out, lights of a helicopter comes to make everything better to see. That's when I notice multiple people running out of the doors and get to whoever they saw first. Emily flings her arms around Alison, Caleb finds Hanna and pulls her into a hug. Then I see Aria, and my heart swarms in excitement to see her, my eyes watering from the pain that's been there all this time. But she doesn't see me as she goes straight to Ezra. My heart kind of sinks, because Andrew is her boyfriend, he's the one she should be running to right now. I'm sure he would have been if the cops weren't after him.

I can't even move right now, my legs failing me and my mind seems to slow down so much that I can't process what I'm seeing. I need to go see her, make sure she's okay, but I'm stuck in this spot. I'm just staring at them from the side of the clearing in shock. Then I notice Spencer and Mona standing to the side of the others, holding each other in comfort. I can't believe Mona is alive as I can't control myself, my mouth slowly opening in disbelief. I knew she was okay, because I saw the footage of her. But seeing her with my own eyes in person is a whole other thing to grasp.

"Spencer!" Toby's voice comes, making me look to see the lights and footsteps of police coming.

"Oh thank God." I say to myself, taking a breath and all the stress leaves my body from seeing them.

I'm now trying to get the courage to go over and hug all of them, it's a miracle that they are okay. But then I see Mona turn her head to the side, catching sight of me. Her mouth slowly opens, not being able to move. I can't figure out why she's giving me that look. Is it happiness that she's seeing me, or shock because she realizes that she has to explain things to me.

I'm just able to catch that her hair is blond from the helicopter above us, which totally confused me. But I don't have time to react to that more, because the next thing I know she's running over to me at fully speed. Seeing this makes me snap out of it and now I'm able to move as I walk fast to her.

She throws her body into me, making me topple back a bit. "Jessie."

"Hey." a lump gets caught in my throat, trying to hold back tears. "You're okay."

I hear her starting to cry, "You're here."

"Of course. I wouldn't let anyone find you guys without me."

"I thought you were dead."

I pull away, looking down at her in fear. "What?"

" _A_ showed us all a video." she shakes her head, crying more. "Y-You were having some kind of reaction to something, shaking like you couldn't control it. Then you stopped moving completely."

My breath gets caught in my throat, my heart sinking as I realize that maybe it was from when I was having that seizure. _A_ made them terrified more by having them believe I died in his or her care. Holy shit.

I smile the best I can, wiping her tears away. "I'm fine."

She takes a breath, shaking her head. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not telling you what I was planning. Leaving you thinking I was dead for all this time."

I shake my head, "You thought you were going to be safe. I get it."

"That's no excuse. I should have trusted you."

"I know you couldn't. You told Mike reluctantly, made him an accessory to your plan. I know you didn't want me to be one too."

"Oh my God, _Mike_." her eyes tear up again, "How is he?"

I open my mouth to answer but then I hear, "Jessie?"

I turn away from her when I hear Hanna's voice, seeing all the girls staring at me. Their mouths dropping to the floor in such shock I'm almost sure they won't be able to bring them back up.

They all look exhausted and completely terrified. But at least they look okay, healthy. Then I noticed that Hanna and Aria both have short hair above their shoulders. What happened to make their hair that short? _A_ has had them down there for a month, did they force this on them? Aria has never had her hair short in her life and what really takes me off guard is that her's pink highlights from when we were kids is back in her black hair. What the hell?

"Jessie, oh my God!" Aria yells, pulling away from Ezra and is the first one in my arms out of the four girls.

"Ria." It feels great to say that again as I squeeze her into a hug, relief filling me from having my best friend back. "I got you."

"You were…"

"Dead." I rest my head on hers, "Mona told me, but I'm okay."

"How are you here?" Emily asks, her face not recovered from the shock. " _A_ killed you."

I shake my head, " _A_ saved me."

Before any of them can react we hear someone yell, "There's another girl down here!"

We all turn to the metal doors they came out of, still holding Aria in my arms. I'm afraid if I let go she'll dissolve into nothing and I'll wake up from a dream.

She seems to be having the same reaction as me, because she tightens up her arms around me. I wish I could read her mind, because when I look down at her there's so much emotion in her eyes. She looks like she has a lot to tell me, but doesn't even know how to start as she starts to tear up.

"What happened down there?" I look at all of them, "What did _A_ do."

They all look at each other, shaking their heads in response.

It turns out that the person who was down there with them is that girl who went missing around the same time Alison did named Sara Harvey. The same girl that Em and Hanna reached out to her friend group as a comfort/clue thing to see who was the real person in Ali's coffin when they realized she was still alive.

One of the cops walk over, asking to take Mona to one of the ambulance trucks to make sure she's okay. She's been gone the longest so it makes sense.

She looks at me, as if trying to make sure she doesn't forget what I look like. So I smile reassuringly, "You want me to go with you?"

She slowly nods.

I let go of Aria, "I'll be right back."

"Jessie." her eyes start to water.

I smile, "I'm going to be right there." I point to the ambulance truck, "I'm not going far."

The look in her eyes kind of kills me as I walk over to Mona and put an arm around her shoulders, bringing her over to get checked out. I haven't seen that type of scared look on her face where she's afraid not to have me by her side since we were kids.

I can feel Mona shaking as we walk, like she's cold. But I think it's more than that, so I tighten my grip on her and it makes her look up at me. "I missed you, you know that right?"

She half smiles, seeming to try to be brave. "I've prayed every day since this happened to see you again. I'm so glad you're okay."

I raise my eyebrows as she gets asked to sit onto the end of the ambulance. "Me? You're the one who's been MIA for over four months."

She shifts her eyes away, "I'm okay."

"My ass you are. _A_ sent me videos of you guys. I saw you in that hole scared out of your mind."

She looks at the EMT, watching him talk to the cop. "What did _A_ do to you to make you almost die?" she looks back up to me, "And from all the audio we heard of you being tortured."

I feel my heart sinking to my stomach as I take a deep breath. Then I shake my head, "I don't know."

She gives me a confused look, "What do you mean?"

I start to bite the inside of my cheek from nerves. Then try to relax. "According to everyone, _A_ took me after a car accident I got into sometime before he grabbed the girls."

Her mouth drops, looking me up and down. "Is that what the cast is from? The accident."

I shrug, shaking me head again. "That's the problem, Mona. I have no memory after seeing the girls get arrested. I had a seizure while _A_ kept me hostage. I was in a coma for around four days, woke up in the hospital with no memory of the three days I was missing."

"Oh my God."

I half smile, "I'm fine. Don't freak."

"Don't freak?"

I nod, "Yes, because I'm _okay_."

"Jessie, you were in a coma and lost chunks of time. That's not being okay."

"It's better than being dead."

She eyes me for a few seconds, "Then…" she starts to think to herself, "Wait...how did you get out of _A's_ grasp?"

" _A_ let me go."

"What?" she asks in both shock and confusion.

"The police were called by someone who didn't leave a name about my condition. When they got to where they were told to go they found me. I guess dying wasn't part of the plan."

She shakes her head, " _A_ doesn't care, Jessie. That makes no sense."

I shrug, "I have no idea what to tell you. I'm just giving you what I was told."

The EMT has Mona breathe through an oxygen mask. Checking her pulse and everything. So I sit with her and hold onto her hand in comfort. I've been in this position many times before since I got into this _A_ mess last year, and it's not fun to see her go through the same symptoms.

"Jessie." I look to the voice, seeing Toby staring down at me. "A word?"

I slowly nod, "Sure." I look at Mona, "You okay?"

Through the fog of the mask as she breathes in and out I see her half smile, nodding in response. So I get up and walk with him towards the metal doors the girls came out of while the rest of the others are by a second ambulance. The girls are getting checked out while the boys and Alison wait.

"What's up?"

He takes a breath, looking down at the darkness the metals door lead to. "I need to check what they went through."

I slant my eyebrows in confusion, "You're gonna do down _there_?" I point, "Are you crazy?"

He takes a breath, "I'm a cop."

"Yes, but your colleagues already did that part of the job."

He shakes his head, "I need to do this too. I _have_ to."

"For your benefit." I say in a sad tone.

He slowly nods, "They've been gone for so long. There has to be clues down there to figure out who this is."

Now I nod, "Can I come?"

He shifts his gaze away from the doors and stares at me, "Yea." he takes a breath, "That's why I pulled you aside."

"Is it legal to allow me to?"

"Not unless it's to help with an investigation. You were with _A_ too. This may help trigger something for you."

"So Tanner won't be upset."

He shakes his head, "It was her idea."

I slowly nod, looking behind me to the others. The looks on all of their faces is enough to know that they went through a lot. I want to know what happened down there.

So I turn back to him and nod again, "Let's go."

Toby guides us through the door and over to a path with a flashlight in his hands. An edge becoming visible enough to notice that we have to climb down a ladder.

"I'll go first." he tells me, looking to make sure I'm still behind him.

I nod and grab onto the flashlight as he hands it to me, shining it over the side so he can see where he's going on the steps. There's light at the bottom when he gets to it, so I can just make out him turning from side to side. Then he stares up at me and tells me to throw down the flashlight.

I take a deep breath and follow his lead. I sit onto the floor, turning my body enough to catch my footing on one of the steps to the ladder and then slowly go down it.

I'm not sure what I'm more afraid of. _A_ deciding to pop out of their hiding spot down here, or having something bring back my memories. Too much at once may be a lot to handle and eat me alive.


	84. Chapter 84

**Hey everyone! So sorry on the long wait. Thanks for being so patient.**

 **I'm trying to keep up with this story as much as I can. I got a new idea for a Pretty Little Liars/Harry Potter crossover, so that's kind of been my main priority lately. I just uploaded this crossover story a couple days ago if anyone is interested. It is called When Worlds Collide. Please give it a look! I'd most appreciate it!**

 **If anyone is into Harry Potter I also have a recently new story that I've had up for a bit of time called The Kelly Twins, takes place in the Harry Potter universe for anyone who is into that fandom as well.**

 **I do not own PLL. Everything belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**

* * *

I feel Toby's hands grab onto my waist when I get to the last step of the ladder and helps me down. I take a deep breath and turn around, looking up at him. He's smiling, but looks like he's forcing it. I mean, it makes sense since we are about to search this hellhole on top of everything that's happened. Trying to see what the girls went through for the last month, Mona for the last four to five months is probably the worst idea, but we need answers. This is too sketchy and scary to be doing, but I want to for their sakes.

"Stay close." he tells me, starting to walk down the hall.

I nod, taking a breath and walk behind him. I'm starting to shake a bit from the vibe of this place, feeling a little freaked out as I grab onto his arm. It looks like a basement that could go on forever with no way out. An underground bunker as Toby explains that he heard from one of the other cops.

We get to the end of the hall, checking around the corner and look both ways. Then decide to turn left as it seems like a row of doors are close by. So when we get to one door we look inside to see a dark area.

"Should we?" I look up at him.

He nods, "This is what we are here for."

I take a breath and decide to walk in first. So he switches on his flashlight again and aims it into the room, walking in to see a circled ledge in the middle of the room and we both walk to it. He points the beam of his light into what we notice is a deep hole, my heart sinking.

"This is where Mona was in that video." I look up at him, "It looks worse in person."

The hole is a circular area surrounded by concrete. Nowhere to go at all because it's so deep you could never get out of it unless someone helped. Which I notice there's a rope of some kind on the edge of it, meaning that she in fact was offered help. Then there's mud and dirt at the bottom, scraps of food and dead insects barely visible.

"Come on." he grabs my hand and pulls me away.

We get back into the hall and walk more. We get to another doorway, seeing that this one is dark too. But the light makes it easy to notice a tiny room with a small bed with no windows without having to go inside. On one of the walls where the bed is there's tic marks, like someone was counting off the days.

"This must have been where they found Sara Harvey." Toby tells me as he turns his head and we continue to walk.

We find another room that leads to a staircase to go downstairs and see what looks a bit like a warehouse. The creepy part (as if the whole situation wasn't creepy enough) is that the whole area is decorated like a party. Manikins are all over the bottom floor, dressed in nice clothing like a prom.

"What the hell?" I look around, not being able to grasp what this is. "Is this from the night they ran outside in those prom dresses the night I got that video?" I stare up at him and all he can do is shake his head, his mouth open in shock.

"I...I have no idea." he sounds completely speechless.

My mind races as I see the images of that video. The girls running out from what they probably thought was an escape just to notice that there's no way out. The fence keeps them inside, woods surrounding them. They are panicked as the door slams behind them. What happened after that?

After scanning this spot for a few more seconds I turn around. This is starting to be to make my head spin as we walk back into the hallway to go to check the other rooms.

We see a playroom and a replicated version of Alison's living room. Then get to the end and notice one room to our right. When we open it we see that it's Spencer's bedroom.

"Holy shit." we both say at the same time in disbelief.

It is so on point on every detail of her room that it's insane. The look on his face is angry, so I grab onto his hand and pull him away. That's when we stare down the hall and notice four more doors. Two on the left, one on the right and one all alone at the very back of the hallway.

Alison's bedroom is what we see when we walk into the left one first, making me realize that this must have been where Mona stayed for awhile before that hole. Why do I say that? Because she was wearing Alison's close from when she went missing. _A_ must have been preparing their time for Ali's arrival. This is why Alison was lured all the way out here. Did whatever set the smoke alarm off keep this person from going after her?

We walk out of her room and go to the others, seeing Emily's, Hanna's and Aria's bedrooms. All of these rooms are identical to their real rooms. So when I see how spot on Aria's room is it makes my stomach turn. I feel sick. She has been in the comfort of her own room, but probably was tortured in the process. How is she going to be able to see her real bedroom without thinking of all this? How will any of them.

"Jessie."

I shake my head, grabbing onto his arm for support. "I don't know if I can do this, Toby."

"Hey." he brings me out of her room, turning me to him so I'm not looking inside anymore. He gets in front of me, putting his hands onto my face to make me look up at him. His blue eyes are filled with pain and worry. "You need to relax."

"This is too much."

"I know." he nods, "For me too, but we have to get to the bottom of this."

I take a deep breath, still staring into his eyes. "I wasn't here. This isn't going to trigger anything."

"How do you know?"

I shake my head, shrugging. "I can just feel it. If I was in this place too something would have brought back a memory, no matter how small."

"Are you sure?"

I nod, "I'm positive. Little things have been flashing in my head lately from minor things."

"What?" his eyebrows raise, "Like what? Why didn't you tell us?"

"It doesn't stick, Tobs. I remember for like a second and then it's gone just as fast."

"What's making them come back?"

I think, darting my eyes around his face. "Random stuff. Once it was from Blake talking to me after the fight with Noel, and there's been times I've had dreams...nightmare that I've waken up to in a sweat." I shake my head, "But they fade and feel so far away that I don't know what they're about when I try to hold onto them."

He slightly smiles and kisses me on the forehead. "Well, we tried." he pushes back my bangs behind my ear, "That's what counts."

When we get back to the top everyone but the police, Alison and the boys are gone. The three of them are all waiting on the other side of the metal doors, Alison leaning against the tree as her, Ezra, and Caleb talk amongst themselves. But when they hear our footsteps when we walk out they all turn to us, their expressions seeming alarmed as they walk our way.

The concern on their faces is alarming as they probably see the scared look on both of our faces.

"What happened?" Caleb asks, staring at both of us in turn.

I shake my head, walking away from them. I can't think about this anymore as I head through the trees. I need to get out of here.

I don't get far though when I feel a hand grab onto my elbow, making me stop in my tracks. I inhale deeply, trying to focus my mind on good things. Then I turn around. To my surprise it's not any of the boys like I thought, it's Alison.

"You okay?" she has a sad look, her eyes kind of red. She must have been crying at some point.

I shift my eyes uncomfortably away from her, staring into the woods. Then shake my head as I bring them back to hers, "No."

"What did you see down there?"

I shake my head again, "Nothing that is useful for my memories."

"But it was enough to scare you, upset you."

I try to hold back tears, swallowing my urge to break down. "We have no idea what happened to them, Ali. But I have a bad feeling that they aren't going to be the same people we knew." a tear slides down my cheek and I wipe it away, "That they aren't going to be able to come to us for comfort this time."

She watches me for a few seconds, like she's trying to think what to say next. But she doesn't really have time to react as I finally give into my weakness and let the tears spill out. I've been holding them in ever since we found the girls, and I can't do it anymore.

"Hey." she walks closer, rubbing my arms with both of her hands. "They'll be okay."

I shake my head, putting my fingers to my eyes to rub away the tears. "They won't. They were gone for a month with someone ten times worse than anything Mona ever did as _A_."

She grabs my hand away from my face, holding it in her's as she pulls me behind a tree. I'm assuming it's to keep the boys from being worried about me. Then has me lean up against it, lifting my chin to look at her. "I know you're scared. So I am. But if we break down then they'll never get through it. We have to be their safety net right now. _Aria_ needs you to be there to catch her when she falls."

I take a deep breath, trying to focus on her words. But my emotions are so high right now that my anxiety picks up. My heart is pounding hard against my chest and now I can't breathe as I get light headed and end up sliding down onto the ground, setting my hands onto my head.

"Whoa, Jessie."

Whatever happens next is too blurry to remember. All I know is that she eventually calms me down enough to help me to my feet and head back to the guys so that we can go home.

As soon as we get back into Rosewood we go straight to the hospital. The first people I see is my aunt, uncle and Mike. They are sitting in the corner of the waiting room with the other parents. When Uncle Byron sees me he jumps to his feet and fast walks towards me. He wraps his arms around me, making me feel safe again.

"You could have been killed." he looks down at me when he lets go, "Why do you keep giving us heart attacks?"

I stare up at him, giving an apologetic look. "I needed to do something. I'm sorry."

"You are so grounded." he doesn't have a super serious face, but I know he means it.

I half smile, "I'd agree. If you were still my guardian."

He shakes his head, laughing a little. "Damn."

I lean in and squeeze him into another hug, "I won't leave the house for a week other than school and work."

"And to visit us."

I nod, "Promise."

We sit in the waiting room for awhile. I can't even speak right now, my head spinning in memories on what's happened for the last month. Bobby calls me to let me know that he wants to see me as soon as possible. He came to see me in the hospital with his mom, Uncle Tyler, Aunt Katie and even my grandpa the day after I woke up, but they've been so busy with their lives that the only one who has bothered to keep in touch is him.

I feel a hand go to my shoulder, opening my eyes and lifting my head off my fist. I'm so exhausted that I was just about to knock out. The girls were getting checked out and needed rest, so no one was allowed in to see them. None of us left from this spot for hours, wanting to go in as soon as they said it's okay. About a half hour ago the doctors allowed their parents to go, but the rest of us, including Mike had to stay out here to keep them from being overwhelmed or panicked after being gone for so long.

"Hey." Mike says, smiling. "Want to get some air?"

I slightly smile, nodding. "Yea."

He smiles back, getting up and holds out his hands.

I reach out to him as he grabs my good hand in his and wraps his other hand above my cast around my upper arm. Then he lifts me to my feet and slips his fingers between mine to pull me to the door.

"How you holding up?" he asks, staring down at me.

I half smile, shrugging. "Not sure yet."

"It's a lot, isn't it."

"That's an understate."

He takes a breath, "Mom and dad may be mad about you putting yourself into danger, but I'm proud of you for being brave after what happened. You put everything aside to find them."

"Thanks."

"Hey." he stops in the middle of the hallway and forces me to look at him as he stands in front of me. "You did a good job."

I shake my head, inhaling deeply. "What if they aren't the same, Mikey? What if they aren't okay."

"It's going to take time for them to adjust to being back. Just like you did."

"Three days is nothing compared to a month or more."

"Just be there for them. You know the feeling of being taken. Bond with them over that. Let them into your feelings, show them that you're alright and they'll do the same."

An hour passes and we are still hanging outside in the courtyard area. The air feels good, making me think more clearly. We talked about our feelings and a bit of nonsense that whole time as we sat on the ground against the wall. But eventually I fell asleep in his arms as I laid up against him.

I'm not sure how long I'm asleep for before feeling a light shake to my arm and my name being called. When I open my eyes Ezra is kneeling in front of me, a smile comes to his face.

"Hey." he says, rubbing my leg. "The doctor said it's okay for you and Mike to go see Aria."

I sit up, feeling as Mike lets me go. "What about the others?"

"You can see whoever you want. But…"

"Aria first obviously."

He slightly smiles, "Yea."

Mike gets out from behind me, getting to his feet. Then they both grab an arm and help me up. We all head back inside, Mike keeping his arms wrapped around my shoulders. I don't know if he's doing this for his comfort or mine. Maybe both.

We get into the main lobby, the adults are still here. They look just as exhausted as we do as they watch us pass with slight smiles.

I take deep breaths as Ezra walks with us until we get to her room. Then he turns and walks back the other way, already having his turn with the other boys and Alison while we were outside. It looks like they wanted us to be the last two to have our privacy.

As I peek my head through the doorway and to her bed I see that she's laying in a ball, facing the wall. She's doing the same thing I always do when I'm upset and don't want to talk to anyone.

"Aria." Mike says in a low voice, trying to stay calm.

She doesn't react right away, but eventually she turns around onto her other side. The look on her face hurts as I see nothing but scared written all over it.

"Hey." I say, trying to smile.

She slightly smiles back as we walk in and I sit beside her. She lays her head onto my lap like she sometimes does for comfort and squeezes my pants tightly, "Don't ever leave me again."

My breath gets caught, tears ready to spill out as I kiss her on the head. "Never." then I look up at Mike.

He has a slightly smile on his face as he walks over and sits on her other side, slowly rubbing her back. "We're here." he tells her, "We're here for you."


	85. Chapter 85

**Hey guys, another long wait. Again I apologize.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please review.**

 **I do not own PLL. All belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Aria didn't talk at all. She seemed too out of it and tired, which broke my heart as I continued to rub her arm in comfort while sitting with her and Mike in silence. I think having so many people visit one after the other made things more overwhelming for her. I know that's how I felt once I woke up from the coma. But the silence was also because there isn't much we can talk to her about when it comes to us, because for the past month we had done nothing but worried about her. We can't catch her up on life because we had been trying to figure out what happened to me and where they could have been.

Finally Mike texts me, deciding that maybe me being with her by myself may be an easier thing for Aria, to get her to open up. So he gets up, kisses her on the forehead and smiles at me. Then he leaves.

I look down at her, she's just blankly staring at the door as she watches him walk out. Then she takes a deep breath and starts to close her eyes, as if ready to knock out. So in response I get as comfortable as I can, leaning my head against the headboard of the hospital bed. A flash of seeing her and the girls running out from that metal door comes to mind, the scared looks on their faces. I know that I need to get her talking.

"Ria?"

"Hm?"

I open my eyes and stare down at her again, "What happened?"

She squeezes my pants, knowing that she's trying not to freak out. "A lot."

"You know you can tell me, right?"

"I'm not ready."

I nod to myself. She reminds me of me from last year after Mona, so I'm not going to push her. "It's okay."

She takes a breath, slowly sitting up now and looks at me. "How did _A_ get you?"

I watch her for a few seconds, "Car accident."

"He planned a car accident to take you?" she asks in confusion, yet she of course doesn't seem to not be too surprised.

I notice she said he, but I don't pay too much attention to that. It's just gotten to the point where it's easier to say he or she, rather than they. "I guess."

"You guess?"

I shake my head, "What happened to me is not something you need to hear right now."

"But I want to, I need the distraction."

I shake my head again. "It's not going to be a distraction. It's not as good of a story to hear about either, Ria."

"Please?"

I bite my bottom lip from thinking and being a bit uncomfortable. Then I take a breath, "Look. I honestly can't answer your question, because I don't remember through my memories. It's more from being shown."

"From videos?"

I nod, "My memories are gone from after seeing you guys get arrested at Alison's trial."

She thinks for a few seconds, she seems concerned but also looks like she doesn't want to overreact. "Does your memory loss have to do with the video we were shown to make you seem dead?"

"Where one minute I'm shaking and the next I'm not?"

She slowly nods.

Now I nod, "Yea. I had a seizure, went into a coma and woke up days later with chunks of time missing."

Her mouth slowly drops, but then she closes it and shakes her head. "That's…"

"Insane?"

She nods, "Extremely. I can't believe Andrew did that to you."

My heart sinks, giving her a confused look. "Andrew?"

"It's spreading around that he was who took us. So he has to be _A_ , right?"

I take a breath, shaking my head. "That's just the cops trying to put it on someone. You know he'd never do something like this."

"We don't know that."

I shake my head, "You may not, but I do. I know him."

"So did I."

"No, Aria." I take a breath, I don't want to put so much on her but I can't allow her to pin this on him. "You knew him as the guy I dated and only saw occasionally until you guys started hanging out this year. You didn't truly know who he was. If you did you'd never think it was him."

She watches me for awhile, she looks exhausted. The shortness of her hair and the pink strips makes her look older. But I don't know if it's because it's been so long since I've seen her, or because what she's been through has made her this way.

Finally she just nods, seeming to sense that an argument will start if we continue. No matter how long we've been away from each other she still seems to know me enough to stop.

So I lean forward and smooth her hair behind her ear, "Do you need anything?"

She half smiles, "Can you go with me to see the girls?"

I nod, "Definitely."

It turns out that they are all over in Spencer's hospital room. So I walk with her there and she walks in before I do. Just like old times the four of them are all here. Hanna is sitting on the end of Spencer's bed while Spence is under the covers looking like she could pass out with IV needles in her arm and a tired look on her face. Then Em is sitting on a chair beside the bed and Aria walks over to sit on another chair on the opposite side. To no surprise Mona isn't one of the ones here. She's either too weak to get around or they've already casted her out.

They all turn to me when I don't walk in and I can't decide what I feel until Emily gets up and walks over to me.

"Hey." she gets to me, staring down. The look of excitement on her face to see me warms my heart and she pulls me into a hug.

Some of the stress starts to leave me as I wrap my arms around her, "You okay?"

She has her head resting on the top of mine, so I feel her nod. "Yea." she lets go and slightly smiles, "Fine."

I know that's a total lie, but I just smile back and allow her to pull me to Spencer's bed. Hanna scoots to sit next to her up by the headrest and I sit on the bottom where she was.

My heart is pounding hard against my chest. Being around them doesn't feel normal anymore. A month of them being MIA and I was in my head most of the time trying to cope with everything, afraid that I'd never have this moment again.

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep you guys from being taken."

All their faces drop in sadness, Spencer leaning forward to grab my hand. "This wasn't your fault."

I look down at her hand, squeezing. "I just feel…"

"Helpless." Hanna says for me.

I slowly nod, "Completely."

"But you saved us." Spencer says, raising my head to look at her as my eyes start to water. "So you're clearly not."

I slightly smile, wiping my eyes with my sleeve.

"What happened to your arm?" Hanna asks.

I take a breath, looking at it. "Long story."

They all look at each other, knowing that it's probably better not to ask right now. Aria knows about the car accident. So she's probably thinking it's from that or _A_ , while the rest of them most likely feels it was from _A_.

"So we've heard that you're on good terms with Ali now." Em says, slightly smiling.

"We're on friendlier terms, yes."

"Because you guys needed support in each other in a time of need?" Spencer asks.

I half smile. Them still thinking that I could truly be Alison's friend is laughable, but I don't do that. "More because we knew that we needed to work together to help find you. Half-assing a friendship while working together wouldn't have worked in anyone's favor."

"So in other words, you became friends in order to be able to tolerate her." Hanna says.

I slowly nod, "I guess you can say that."

"So where would that leave you guys now?" she asks.

"I'll continue to play nice, but she won't be my best friend."

They all nod a bit, "Sounds better than you trying to hit her." Spencer says.

I half laugh, "Keeps me out of trouble."

My phone starts to ring, forgetting to put it on silent as I go into my pocket . When I check it out I see that it's a text from Ezra.

" _Everyone left. I'm going to take you home. Meet in the waiting room when you're ready._ "

"Is it Andrew?" Emily asks.

I look at her, half smiling. "Nah. Haven't heard from him in a couple weeks."

They all give each other a look, "So you've talked to him since we've been gone?" Hanna asks.

I slowly nod, "I wanted to know where he was."

"What did he tell you?" Aria asks.

"That he's been looking for you."

Her face drops, "What?"

"He's trying to be the hero." I shake my head, "But the press and police are making him out to be the bad guy."

"How do you know he's not?" Spencer asks.

" _Spence_." they all say, eyeing her.

"What?"

I take a breath, putting my phone into my pocket. "Look, I know you guys have been through a lot, but I don't want to have a conversation about my ex-boyfriend being the suspect of _A_. I've had this debate with the boys and Alison so many times that my head is ready to explode."

"I get that, but…"

"Spence, please don't let the first time we fully talk turn into an argument. It's been a long month, and I'm just starting to feel relaxed knowing that you guys are okay."

She half smiles, nodding. "Sorry."

I get up, "I have to go."

"See you tomorrow?" Aria asks.

I smile and nod, "Of course."

Ezra stays with me at my place, sitting on the couch watching the news and how they were saved. It feels like yesterday that I was watching a familiar speech being made by the news anchor about me being found and them missing. Now it's not butterflies of fear going through me, it's of happiness that we actually have them back in our lives.

I take a deep breath as I'm laying my head in his lap curled up in a ball, "I can't believe we found them."

He takes a breath now, rubbing my arm in comfort. "I know. Now we just need to figure out who took you guys."

I slowly turn my head up to him, "Do you still think it was Andrew?"

"I plead the fifth."

I slightly smile, "I know you do. You all do."

"I'm sorry, Jessie. It's hard to feel otherwise when the evidence points to him."

"Maybe, but it wouldn't be the first time _A_ framed someone for something they didn't do."

The girls were in the hospital for couple days, needing the rest and then were okay to get sent home. They had still not said a word about what they went through and didn't pressure me into trying to remember my experience knowing I couldn't.

So when Aria's parents and Mike pick her up I'm there when she gets home. I watch as her and Aunt Ella climb up the steps to head to her room for the first time in a long time. The problem is how she's going to react seeing the same area she was held captive for the last month. It may be her room, but the fact that she had been in a replicated version all that time isn't going to be easy for her to handle.

Then all of a sudden she stops at the top of the steps and just stares up for awhile. Her mom doesn't seem to notice as I look up at Mike, who gives me a worried look. Then I feel a hand go to my shoulder and turn to see Uncle Byron staring down at me.

"Go with her." he whispers.

I slowly nod, taking a deep breath and head up the stairs to her. I cautiously put my hand to her arm, making her look at me. While she was in the hospital she ended up dying her hair back to the pure black color she was born with. The pink clearly scared her and the fear in her eyes right now makes me feel so bad, so I try to smile the best I can.

"You got this."

She slightly smiles back, grabbing my hand in hers and then I pull her upstairs.

Once I help her get settled we sit here for awhile. She's in quiet mode for a few minutes, staring around her room. Then she bolts off her bed and heads to the window, opening it up so fast that it worries me.

"Ria?"

She leans her arms onto the window, her breath is picked up a bit and doesn't answer. So I get up and stand beside her. That's when she turns to me, her face being pale. "I...needed air."

I slowly nod, half smiling. "It is a nice day."

She nods a few times, looking back out the window for a few longs seconds before saying. "They were blocked."

I look at her in confusion as she continues to stare outside, "What was?"

"The closet door and windows in my bunker bedroom." she gets quiet, digging her nail into the wood of the windowsill.

Now my heart goes from pounding hard against my chest to sinking in seconds, "W-What?"

"All of the openings were blocked from concrete, no way to get out unless _A_ opened the main door to my room for me."

I take a deep breath, shaking my head. "Well you're safe now. You know that right?"

She slowly turns to me, readjusting her body. Then she takes me off guard as she throws herself into me, squeezing her arms tight. "I'm sorry."

I lay my head on hers, trying to hold back tears. "For what?"

"Not being there for you. For letting you almost die...again."

"No, don't do that. This is not about me."

She shakes her head, "It is."

"No." I pull away, setting my hands to her face and have her look up at me. "I'm fine. Been fine for a month. The one who should be worried is me about you. Don't change the sympathy and pain on how you feel bad for me when there's nothing to feel bad about."

"There's a lot to feel bad about, Jessie."

"Yea, that that psycho took you for weeks and was about ready to grab Ali too. That this person had Mona for months and that Sara girl for four years. That _A_ made all of your family and friends think that you guys could have been dead all this time and made us miserable in the process." I nod, "A lot to feel bad about, yes. But none of that is going to be about me."

She slightly smiles as I wipe away a tear that slides down her face. "How did you turn into an adult in a month."

I slightly laugh, "It's been a rough month."

Tonight I don't hesitate to spend the night with her when she asks me to. So while we lay in her bed with the nightlight she used to use for me when I was here I watch her sleep. The medication they gave her allowed her to knock out almost at once. But I can't help but make sure that she's okay, because I'm scared that I'll wake up and she won't be. That I'll end up waking up in my own bed at my place with Aria and the girls still being missing.

Then my phone buzzes on the nightstand beside me, making me turn from her and grab it. Spencer's name flashes on it and it makes me panic a bit as I get up and walk outside to the hallway.

"Hello?" I whisper, heading downstairs now.

"H-Hey."

"Hey." I take a relieved sigh, I don't know why I panicked, but I did. "You okay?"

"Yea, course."

"Seriously, Spence."

She sighs, "No...not really."

"Want to talk?"

"No...not really."

I take a breath, "Then what would you like?"

"To be able to sleep."

"What about the medicine the doctor gave you?"

"My mom told them I didn't need it. She's afraid I'm going to get hooked on drugs again."

"Aw, Spence, I'm sorry."

"I truly am home. My mom running my life again."

I'm a little speechless on how to answer that to be honest. She's upset that her mom's telling her what to do, but I'm sure she rather that than being stuck with _A_ in that bunker going through God knows what. But I don't bother saying that.

"Just be optimistic that you're home safe."

She breathes in and then lets a long breath out, "You're right."

"I'll pass by tomorrow, okay?"

"Yea."

"Goodnight."

"I love you." her voice cracks a bit as she says that.

A lump comes to my throat, I haven't heard that from her in forever. "I love you too, Spencer."


	86. Chapter 86

**Hey, everyone. Hope you're enjoying Jessie's story.**

 **Thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with this by reviewing, adding as a favorite, or following. Most appreciated.**

 **I do now own PLL, Sara Shepard and Freeform do.**

 **Enjoy and please let me know your thoughts in a review.**

* * *

I go to school the next day and have to process the stares again. The girls aren't planning on coming to school for what I'm hoping is awhile. But even with them not being here the kids still have this need to be nosy as they stare at me. But I suck it up, keeping things as friendly as possible while walking from class to class with Annabeth. When the girls went missing she volunteered to keep me company in the halls.

During Aunt Ella's class my phone vibrates, making me jump a bit. While Aunt Ella is busy at her desk with all of us doing an assignment I go into my pocket. I check that I got a text from Aria, making me panic because her text is in caps to call her.

I get up from my desk, fast walking to Aunt Ella's desk. She looks up and sees my face, making her's get pale.

"What is it?"

"Aria text me. I think something's wrong."

She shifts her eyes down to her phone, probably seeing if she got a text too.

"Can I call her from the bathroom? I'll let you know what she said."

She takes a breath, looking around the room now at the other students. Then she looks at me and nods, "Fifteen minutes till the bell. Don't rush, but don't take too long either."

I nod, "Okay."

I head to the door, and then run down the hall when I see no one is around here. I bolt into the bathroom, get into a stall and dial her number. It rings longer than I'm used to. She always answers me fast, so my mind races in fear. Am I paranoid? Hell yea I am.

"Hello?"

"Aria." I let out a breath, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry. It was a bad reaction to a dream."

"What?"

"I was sleeping and I had a dream about you, getting hurt from _A_."

"I'm okay, Aria. I swear."

"I didn't mean to worry you."

"It's alright."

She takes a breath, quiet for a few long seconds. "In the bunker, _A_ kept playing a looped audio of you while they had you." she doesn't normally open up, so I don't interrupt her. "You were screaming for help. Then you were gagged and yelling. It still plays in my mind. It gives me nightmares."

My mouth slowly drops, "W-What?"

I hear her sniff, like she's about to cry. "It was horrible."

A flash of the video I was sent of myself comes into my head. I could imagine the fear she went through hearing all that, but I'm still glad she never saw it. "Hey. Breathe okay? I'm safe, you're safe. Everything is okay, I promise."

"You don't know that."

"Aria, please. Just relax."

"H-How?"

"After I got home, I had a hard time too. So I occupied my mind by drawing, listened to music. I did anything I could to not think about it. You need to do the same to keep yourself from stressing out." she doesn't answer, "You could even write if you really need to be distracted."

"No." she sounds scared again, "I don't need to write any of that down."

"Okay, no writing. But do something."

She takes a breath, "Okay."

When lunch comes it turns out to be shitty, because Ali won't stop talking about the night we rescued the girls. I've been doing nothing but having nightmares about it, trying to forget. Yet she's acting as if it was a glorified day for us. Yes, we may have saved their lives, but we don't need to keep reliving it. Tori, Kelly, and Carter sat with us today, trying to keep me busy. Annabeth doesn't have this lunch period and Caleb went to visit Hanna. They all keep giving me this look like they want to kill her. I can't say I blame them, I'm doing everything not to give her a punch to the face.

The best part of the day is ceramics. It being my favorite subject it always relaxes me. Not only that, but because I have Annabeth in this class.

"Hey." she says with a smile as I sit beside her.

"What's up."

She shrugs, grabbing something from her bag. "Nothing much. Just another rubbish day."

I nod, taking out my sketchpad from my backpack. "I feel ya."

"I need your opinion on something." she looks at me, holding her sketchbook in her arms.

"Okay?"

She takes a breath, "I came up with a new idea. It's a little brutal, but it was how I felt after Billy cheated and I thought of making it my next project."

I slowly nod, she's been better since the breakup. Letting out her anger through her drawings, which is another common thing we have.

"Sure. Then you have to do the same for me."

"You drew something that had to do with the girls being rescued, didn't you?"

I half smile, "You know me so well."

She laughs, "Artist tend to have a sixth sense."

I nod, taking a breath and we hand our drawings to each other.

I set down her book onto the table in front of me, scanning her artwork. It's a cartoon drawing of two people, a boy and girl. The girl has tears streaming down her face, in mid scream as if yelling from heartbreak. She's holding onto a heart in her hand, squeezing while blood drips out and down her hand. The boy is in mid fall, a hole where his heart would be with a blank expression from dying.

The detail is so intense with color and emotion that when I slowly look up at her my eyes are wide and a bit watery. "Wow." I can feel all the hate and hurt from this picture so well. This is pretty much what she felt like the day I comforted her.

She stares at me, a familiar expression on her face. "That's what I was going to say for yours."

Mine is showing a front view of a girl standing in the trees by a clearing, shadows of bodies at the bottom of the page, indicating that it's the girls. Surrounding her are dimmed out versions of herself, different emotions to show how I felt that day. The original girl is a calmed facial expression from relief, but the others are shocked, panicked, fear, and crying.

"That's a really good drawing." I tell her, "Good idea for a project."

She smiles, "Thanks." she stares down at mine again, "You should definitely give this in for the school art show, Jay."

I half smile, "I don't know."

She hands me back my picture, "Give it a shot. You're stuff is amazing. Even Mr. Millar thinks so. How many times has he asked to put your things out in the display case."

"A lot."

"Exactly. It's time to put them in a show for the world to see, not just sitting in the corridor where no one even bothers to pay attention."

I put my drawing away, grabbing my ceramic piece from the table behind us that I had been working on for a week. It's not as meaningful as that drawing, but I still enjoy it. A kid with a horn in his hand stabbing a mythical Greek monster called a Minotaur. Yes, a scene from the first Percy Jackson book.

"We'll see."

Later on I go to Spencer's like I promised, doing my best to comfort her without pushing the issue. In the end it turns into her helping me with my math homework. Definitely feels like old times. Then from there I go to check on Em, sitting on her porch for air.

"How are you doing?"

She half smiles, shrugging. "Not sure yet."

"You know you can call me whenever you need something. I know it's been awhile but I'm not going to bite."

She slightly laughs, looking down at her hands. "I know that."

I watch her for a few seconds, she hasn't laid her eyes on me once since we got out here. "Are you uncomfortable with me?"

She takes a breath, then finally looks at me. Her eyes start to dart back and forth to each of mine. "I just don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"How would I get hurt because of you?"

"Because I'm toxic, Jessie. We all are. Everything we touch gets affected."

"That's not true."

She touches my cast, "You almost died for the millionth time in two years. We are responsible for _A_ going after you for all this time."

"My choices to get involved."

"Not this last time. You were pretty much out of our mess. But being our friend was enough to take you."

"Em, I'm _fine_. Honest."

"But…"

I grab her hand in mine, squeezing. "Stop. I'm good."

"You really don't remember."

I shake my head, "Other than the videos? Not a thing."

"I wish I could forget."

My heart hurts a little as she said that, "I know. And I wish I could help take the pain away."

She watches me for a few seconds, a lot of sadness in her eyes. Then she leans closer and wraps her arms around my neck. She isn't crying, but I can tell she needed this hug.

A couple days later I'm heading down the steps to go to Spencer's after school. The stress of the long day filling me and just wanting to get out of here. That's when Ali finds me as I'm setting down my skateboard to the ground. She blocks my way, giving me a sad look.

"What?" I raise my eyebrows at her in concern.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"Who says I'm avoiding you?"

"It's pretty obvious, Jessie. The girls get saved and now you don't bother to contact me since. You barely give me eye contact or listen to a conversation we are having."

I shift my eyes away from her, "I can't do this right now."

"Hey." she sidesteps in front of me when I try to skate away, "We've been through a lot in a couple weeks. I just hoped that we'd be on better terms."

"We are. I'm just not in the mood right now."

She takes a breath, "Can you just walk with me home? At least make it seem like you still want to be my friend."

I take a breath, kicking my board back up to me. "I never said I didn't want to be your friend."

"Could have fooled me."

Alright, maybe in all honesty I'm on the fence about it. I told the girls I'd stay on friendly terms with her, but I don't know if I want to even do that. It was one thing while they were gone, but it's a whole other story now that they are back.

I take a breath, "Look. It's just hard being around you without a purpose. You put me through a lot in the past. Picking on me as a kid, being an ass once you got home from being gone for four years."

"Which I apologized for."

"I know you did, and you even went to the extent to help me when I was being picked on when I got home and had a rough time with Blake, and I'll always appreciate that. But the problem is that I know you way too well to consider being beyond an acquaintance."

"So what are you saying?"

"That we both knew we weren't going to be able to actually make a permanent friendship. There's no point in trying when there's too much bad history between us. We took advantage of working together to find the girls for a reason to make us get along. But now..."

"There's no more reason for us to pretend."

I slowly nod, "Exactly."

She shifts her eyes away from mine for a second, then slowly looks back at them. "So play a role while around the girls and act as if everything's okay for them."

I nod, "Probably the best."

She slowly nods, half smiling. "Sounds forced."

"I'm sorry."

She watches me for a few seconds, a little bit of sadness in her eyes and then turns around and walks away. Is it weird that I feel bad doing that? The person who has always been strong seemed really upset that I pretty much dismissed this friendship. How crazy is that? Did I just turn away the one person who could protect me in the school all because I'm holding a grudge that I didn't realize till now that I still had?


	87. Chapter 87

**Hey guys, sorry I took a while to get this up.**

 **Hope you been enjoying and thanks to everyone who has been keeping up.**

 **I do not own PLL, belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Enjoy and please review.**

* * *

When I get to Spencer's I see her coming out of her house, Toby's truck in front. She makes eye contact with me from down the street, the look in her eyes is mixed between being happy to see me and seeming scared. Then she puts her phone in the air, her way of saying I'll text you and then hops into Toby's truck.

For a few seconds I'm just there, staring as his truck takes off and rounds the corner. It still feels weird to see them around again. It's been so long that sometimes I feel like I'm dreaming. So I take a breath and leave, skating off to my house instead. Once I get there I debate whether to open the store, not sure if I'm truly in the mood for it. In the end I decide to do it, hustling around to help customers on what I find out fast is a hectic day. Then after a few hours I start to get a little overwhelmed and figure to close up and see if Ezra is at the Brew.

As I'm about to walk down the block I hear my name, making me turn around.

"Hey." Noel says with a bright smile on his face.

I smile as his bright blue eyes make me melt and walk fast back towards him, slamming my body into his. "Hey."

He wraps my his around me and squeezes, "You okay?"

"A lot of emotions."

I hear him take a deep breath, "I could imagine. I'm sorry I haven't been around."

Besides him still being suspended from school we've both been busy. He has been busting his ass trying to figure out this Blake situation while I've been doing my best to help the girls.

"It's okay."

He pulls away from me, smiling down. Then he rubs his thumb to my face. "Go for a walk?"

I smile, grabbing his hand from my face. "Sure."

As we walk I tell him how I'm feeling, all of it being about the girls. I tell him that I'm worried, but that I don't want to push them into talking to me about what happened to them. That I'm furious with everyone for blaming Andrew for all this when I know he would never hurt someone. Talking about my ex never bothers him, because he knows that we were still good friends and saw the way he always treated me as we dated. He agrees that he doesn't think he had anything to do with it. Then I bring up the conversation I had with Alison just as we start to get tired and sit at a bench at the park.

"So you cut her off?"

I nod, "I did. But with the girls back I don't think it'll really stick enough to be considered cutting off. I'd have to pretend to like her for their sakes."

"Just don't let them suck you into anymore messes. What you did to save them was really dangerous."

"I know. But I couldn't just do nothing."

"I know." he squeezes my hand, "That's what I love about you. You're loyal."

I half smile, "But that also gets me into trouble."

"No one's perfect."

My phone rings, seeing Uncle Byron's name pop up onto the screen when I get it out of my pocket. So I look up at Noel, telling him I need to take the call and answer.

"Jessie."

"What's up, Uncle Byron."

"Your aunt and Aria came back from the police station. There's something you need to know."

My heart sinks a little, my face probably turning into a look that makes Noel worry as he mouths what's wrong.

"What's it about?"

"Come over and we'll talk."

I hate the way he ended that conversation. There's so much that could have happened over there. But I waste no time as Noel drops me off at their house, telling me to call him if I need to. Then he kisses me goodbye and heads home.

When I get into the house the first thing I see is both my aunt and uncle sitting at the table, making me stop in my tracks. So they tell me to sit down, but it takes them a minute to start speaking, this must be serious.

They explain the best they can that the purpose of Aria being called in is to let her know what's going on in the investigation. Andrew had gotten caught the day after they were rescued not far from where they were found. I had been pulled from the cops that day and was asked the same questions as always. Is he violent, did I ever fear for my life around him, blah blah blah. But when my aunt and uncle finally tell me that the evidence against him is higher than ever and what Aria confessed I can't believe it.

"Aria did _what_?" I get out in both anger and shock.

"She told the person investigating the case that she saw Andrew down there." she says again, a little more cautious than she was from the first time she said it.

I shake my head, "No." I laugh, "Thats a lie, obviously. She would have told us, told _me_."

They give each other a look and then a sad one to me, "Maybe she didn't want to upset you." Uncle Byron tells me.

I take a breath, "No. He didn't do this."

"Jessie." Aunt Ella says.

"You just told me that she looked like she freaked out because without seeing who was behind the mask there was no case. She lied out of her ass to get him in trouble."

"You have to see it in her perspective, Jessie." he says. "She was scared."

I shake my head in frustration now, getting up from the chair and head over to the stairs.

"Jessie!" they both yell.

I don't pay mind to them as I storm the steps, almost tripping at the top but keep myself up as I bolt into her room. I don't even realize that Spencer is here until they both look at me from her bed.

"How dare you." I get out in a pissed voice.

Her face goes pale, she probably knows what's up. "Jessie."

"Don't try to make excuses." I shake my head, laughing in disgust. "We had this conversation."

"Jessie, I'm sorry. I just…"

"Wanted to get it over with? Told them what they wanted to hear."

"I didn't mean to."

"Yes you did." I narrow my eyes on her, then stare at Spencer. I've never seen her so quiet. "You all already have him as the bad guy in your brains. Toby tells you that it's him and you don't bat an eye to think it over."

"Evidence outweighs everything, Jessie." Spencer finally says in a tired voice.

"Is that what you thought when they arrested you for Bethany's murder?"

She shies away.

I laugh in a pissed way, "That's what I thought."

"Stop, okay?" Aria says, "I wish I could take it back."

"Yea, well you can't." I shake my head, "You know that they say this person took me too."

They both nod.

"And of all people you think Andrew... _Andrew_ , would be the one to hurt me the way that _A_ did? Are you out of your freaking minds."

They both go to answer, but I put my hands up and they close their mouths.

"You know what. I don't want to hear your thoughts. I'm tired of telling you what I think and having you all shut it down like I don't matter."

"But you do matter." Aria says.

I slightly smile, "Funny way of showing it. Because you shoved aside my feelings...again. A month away and you guys still manage to treat me like shit."

"That's not fair, Jessie." Spencer says.

"No, you know what's not fair?" I look at both of them, "Giving you guys so many chances and not appreciating it. Feeling like you all take advantage of me. That you only keep me around because I'm the one person who believes you guys enough to back you up, too stupid to see what everyone else sees."

I turn around and walk out of her room. If they went after me I couldn't tell you. I flew down the steps so fast and ran out the door like I was on fire as I slammed the door behind me and walked home.

Aria and Spencer don't bother to contact me. I guess I left a good fumed imprint on them as I go the rest of the day sitting in my room by myself. Since that the girls are home safe and Andrew has been in jail Ezra felt more comfortable giving me the space. I got so used to him being around that it's been weird, but now I'm glad that he's not here to see my anger.

School the next day I run into Hanna. I didn't even realize that she was planning on coming back. Mona got pulled out of Rosewood from her mom after the hospital to have some time to herself, so I don't think she's around. But Hanna is standing outside at the bottom of the steps, staring around like a lost puppy to find who I'd assume is the other girls. God I hope they don't show up. I don't know if I can handle seeing Aria and Spencer right now.

Is it sad that it's been like a week and I'm already on bad terms with those two. I hate that I got so pissed, but she totally took me off guard by telling the cops about what she said and Spencer backed her up. I mean, she _lied_ about it. I get she's scared, but you need a face to the kidnapper. You can't make something like that up and ruin a person's life without a solid clue. It's like they don't learn their lessons, going right back to their old ways.

Math class comes and Hanna seems to finally get the courage to talk to me as she nudges me with her foot, looking at her from my math notebook. I think she knows what went down, so she probably was avoiding me.

"What?" I whisper, raising my eyebrow.

"I heard you got into an argument with Aria and Spencer about Aria saying it was Andrew."

I slowly nod, looking away. "Yea."

"You know she was just scared. An impulse."

"Maybe. But it was an impulse that can screw him over."

She gets quiet, "So I guess you don't know why they didn't come to school then."

I shake my head, "Didn't even know that was the plan."

After school I'm at the store, it's starting to get dark when I get a phonecall. It's a Rosewood number, but I don't recognize it. So I cautiously answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

My heart sinks to my stomach, my breath getting caught. "Andrew?"

I hear him take a breath, "I so missed that beautiful voice of yours."

I close my eyes, resting my head onto my non-casted fist, my elbow on the desk. "You were MIA for weeks. Ignored me."

"I'm sorry." he takes a breath, "I was trying to protect you."

"I've tried to see you."

"I know. They told me. I wasn't allowed visitors and I could only call my parents."

"Why did they find so much evidence against you?"

"I don't know, Jessie. Someone is framing me. I'd never hurt you."

"I know."

He's quiet for a second, "You do?"

"I've known you long enough. I could never think you had anything to do with this."

"I'm glad you have my back."

"Always."

"Good. Because they dropped the charges and I'm being released soon."

My eyes widen, shooting my head off my fist. "What?"

"Yea." he says this in a cute way, making me melt. "I'm going to be free in a an hour."

"Oh my God."

"Meet me at the police station? I'll take you for dessert."

I laugh, wiping my eyes from happy tears. "For sure."

I watch my phone as I see the numbers slip away. It goes so slow that it's driving me nuts. But finally an hour is almost here, so I close up and skate over to the police station. Ten minutes left till he gets out as I sit on the bottom steps of the building, checking the time whenever I get anxious.

A few people here and there pass me, but don't pay attention. It is pretty late so it doesn't surprise me. Then finally I hear the sound of the door opening and closing and footsteps follow. I turn my head to look up at the front doors to the police station and see the heartwarming smile of Andrew.

"Hey."

I stand up, not being able to believe that I'm seeing him for the first time in over a month. "H-Hey."

He walks down the steps, and skyrockets over me like he always has as I stare up at him. He stares me up and down, pointing at my cast. "Can I sign that when I get the chance."

I slightly smile, watching his blue eyes twinkle in the light of the lamps through the darkness. Then I walk forward, wrapping my arms around his neck as he leans down to hug me back. "You are insane."

He laughs, "Says the one who actually saved their lives."

I take a deep breath, "Don't ever do something this stupid again."

"Promise." he lets go and stands straight, "Icecream?"

"Out of Rosewood?"

"Oh yea."

We start to walk down the block, then "Andrew." a concerned high pitched voice comes, making us both turn to the side. Aria is standing there, the girls coming this way behind her.

I grit my teeth to hold my tongue, she has no right doing this right now. So I look up at him, his face getting dark. "Stay away from me" he says to her.

"Are your parents inside?" she asks, getting in front of us now.

"They called them. But I wasn't going to stay in there to wait." he starts to walk around her.

She grabs onto his arm, making him stop. "Look, I'm really glad you're out."

He turns around and stares down at her, "Really?" He says in a sarcastic voice, "That's not what I heard." he's really angry, his eyes flaming. I don't blame him.

"Okay, but you have to understand..." she starts.

"No, you have to understand!" he yells at her, making us both jump. "Do you know where I was the three weeks they were trying to find me?"

I'm standing behind her so I can't see her expression, but I know that she knows the answer to that question as she says. "Yes. Jessie told me."

"Exactly, trying to find you." his voice gets a little more calm but still mad, "I was going to be the hero. Instead I get arrested, thrown in jail. They investigate my parents, teared up my uncle's farm. Because I wanted to help you."

I start to walk forward, but a hand grabs onto my arm. I look behind me and see Toby. His new partner is standing beside him. The look in his eyes are concerned as I hear Andrew still telling Aria off behind me.

"Let go, Toby."

"Don't get involved."

"I already am."

I hear my name and look the other way, Andrew is looking at me. The girls all surrounding them now as they look my way.

"Coming?"

I pull my arm away from Toby, then walk towards him. He grabs onto my hand and pulls me away. I look behind me for a second, watching all of their faces. They look hurt, but so am I, so is he. They made another big mess of things, and I don't know what to do about it.


	88. Chapter 88

**Hey everyone. Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **Thanks for sticking with me for this long. I know the story is getting super long. Was not my intention at all.**

 **I do not own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!**

* * *

A couple days pass since all this happened. I've been so mad that I avoided the girls. Aria has tried to reach out, so has Spencer. But I haven't answered them. Hanna and Em have even passed by my place, reluctantly I let them in. But with all their efforts to get on my good side I've shut them down. Of all times to do this, in their time of great need I'm being mean. But I can't do it anymore. I feel like every time things start to get normalized everything spirals.

They still haven't come back to school. Hanna went back the one day and then skipped out again. So that made it easier to keep away from them. I feel like an ass for bailing, I really do. Aria had been there for me after Mona, they all had. But they've all stepped on my toes too many times and I don't know if I can handle it anymore.

"I need you to go to Hollis with Aria." Uncle Byron tells me when he calls as I'm walking over to the Brew.

"Uncle Byron…"

"I know you feel like she betrayed you by throwing Andrew under the bus, but she needs you. I can see it all over her face that she's struggling. You're the only one who can get her talking."

"I can't."

"Jessie, please. Consider that she's lost."

"Like she considered taking what I said into account? To believe that I know Andrew more than her enough not to be afraid of him. To think it through before telling the cops what she never saw?"

"You're acting like a two year old."

"She almost got him into serious trouble off of a lie!"

" _Don't_ raise your voice with me."

"Don't talk to me like you're my dad."

"I've been exactly that for the last two years."

I take a breath, trying not to get angry and walk into the Brew. That's when I see Spencer sitting on our usual spot in the back. Ezra is standing near by.

"Spencer." he says, making her look up from the floor. Her face looks like she's in the middle of what I can tell is her having a panic attack. "Are you okay?"

She nods, mumbling something to him that I can't make out. Then she looks over at me and her face pales. That's when Ezra turns around and sees me, walking over.

"I'll call you back." I say to my uncle.

"I don't need you to call me back. I need you to come over here and check on Aria."

"Fine, fine. I'll see if I have time after my date with Noel."

"No, Jess…."

"Hey." Ezra says as I hang up.

I half smile, "Hey."

"Been MIA for a few days."

"Been busy." I shift my eyes back to Spencer, who is watching us.

He follows me as I walk over to the counter, "What's going on?"

"Can I get a light and sweet small coffee." I tell the girl, then look at him. "Nothing."

He narrows his eyes for a second, "Jessie."

I chew on my cheek for a second, "Are you playing dumb or really don't know."

He looks over to Spencer for a second, then back to me. "Aria told me. I just want your version of the story."

"There's no version to my story. She lied to bring Andrew down for a crime he didn't commit and then tried to justify her actions."

"But…"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Here you go." the girl says as she hands me a cup.

"Thanks." I look at him, "I'll see you later." then turn around to leave.

"You're leaving her out to dry and cope by herself." he tells me.

I turn to him just as I get to the door, "That's not true." I open it up, "Because she has you."

I hang at the store for a couple hours before my date then go upstairs to change, switching on the TV. The first thing that comes on is the news, the same story about the girls.

" _The case of the four Rosewood girls who had been missing for over a month and rescued is still being investigated_." I hear the news man's voice from the living room as I walk to my room, " _Andrew Campbell, the boy thought to be the main suspect in the four girls and three other girl's abductions had been released a few days before, mistakenly framed from evidence. If there is any information on who this mystery person could be, I urge you to call the Rosewood police station_."

I take a breath, grabbing my phone after I slip into jeans and a nice shirt. I text Andrew, making sure he's okay. His parents kept him home after all this mess.

"Hey. How are you?"

He answers back almost right away, " _I'm okay. Just catching up on homework. How's everything?_ "

"Still shit. School's shit, this town is shit. Everything is total shit."

" _LOL. You're too much._ "

"Can you blame me?"

" _Not in the slightest._ "

"So I have a date with Noel, I'll text you later."

" _Sounds good. Have fun._ "

I check myself in the mirror one last time when I'm ready, seeing the scar from being in that basement and the cast. They need to find this lunatic soon, closer is really important for me to move on. I take a breath, not wanting to think about it. Then I walk over to the living room to look outside, just making out Noel pulling up in his car.

I smile to myself then head back to my room to grab my keys, turn off the TV and walk to my door. However, when I open the door to leave I get a text from an unknown number, making my heart sink.

 _No one messes with my dolls but me. -A_ , I read this to myself, totally confused as I press on the attachment.

At first I'm confused on what I'm listening to. Until I realize that it's Blake's voice. Not just his voice, but the conversation we had that night in his car. The night he tried to rape me and it's the _entire_ talk, from the time we got into his car as if everything was fine, until he did his best to hurt me.

"Oh my God."

"Hey."

I jump from the sudden voice, my mouth is hanging open as I look up and see Noel standing on the stairs outside.

His smile fades kind of quick when he sees the look on my face, "What's wrong?"

My breath gets caught for a second and my mind flashes back to me yelling for help. Blake forcing his hand over my mouth and the feeling of him pushing down hard as he told me to be quiet. I can still feel the panic going through me that night as I yelled through his hand keeping me quiet, and the tears sliding down my face as I clawed at his hand with one of mine and hitting him with the other. The feeling of him grabbing one of my hands with his free one and forcing it under my back, doing the same with the other. I couldn't move from how heavy he was from laying on top of me.

 _"You're going to enjoy this. Don't fight it."_ my brain echoes his voice as he went to my pants, my muffled screams for help being drowned out form his hand still on me as he kissed my neck.

"Jessie?" I hear the faraway voice of Noel, making me come back to reality.

My breath is picked up as he now has his hands on my shoulders, bending down to my height to look at him. "N-Noel."

"What hapened?"

I take a breath, handing him my phone. "I...I think we just got something that can nail that dick."

He gives me a confused look at first, then presses my screen. His face lights up as it starts, then he looks at me with the same open mouthed look as I had. "Holy shit."

I compose myself and take a relieved breath, "This is enough, right? Please tell me it is."

He leans in and kissing me on the forehead, "I think so."

"Good." I smile, "That's good"

"Come on." he grabs my hand, "We are showing my dad."

"Now?"

He nods, "Now."

It took a few hours for things to get put into effect. His dad to get that evidence seen by the police and having the head of the station take this seriously took no time at all, it was the rest of the process that took a while. Calling in Blake and his uncle to explain what's going on, to get the restraining order reinstated.

They had asked a lot of questions of course. How I got this, who sent it. The normal. I told them that I think it was sent from my kidnapper, why exactly I couldn't tell them. Just have the text, which of course confused them as much as me. But after all that things started to stick. Blake is no longer allowed in Rosewood High, he cannot be anywhere near me. Even a block down is illegal. His uncle got fired for tampering with all this and now I'm on the most wanted to kill list in Blake's eyes.

"This is bullshit!" Blake yells when he's told, "She's lying."

"Evidence says otherwise." Mr. Kahn tells him.

"She obviously made it up. Come on."

Mr. Kahn looks at us, nodding to Noel.

Me and him are standing by the wall farthest from the door, so he grabs my hand and has me follow him out.

"You little bitch." I hear Blake whisper as I pass him, making me do everything I can not to react.

Then getting outside is a mess, because Luna and her brother were forced to stay out here while their parents took care of things. So seeing them standing at the bottom of the steps makes my heart leap in my chest.

"What did you do?" Kyle asks in rage when he sees me.

"Leave me alone." I say, feeling anxious as Noel squeezes my hand.

"You got him in trouble again, didn't you." Luna asks, her eyes flamed.

"No. He got himself into trouble again." I tell her, "Tell them to play you a recording I was sent. It has the whole incident of your brother trying to rape me. Maybe then you'll believe me."

I pull Noel's hand and have him follow behind me. I can tell by the look on his face that he wants to hit them.

"Think you're all tough again because your friends are back!" Kyle yells, "They probably hate you for leaving them to die."

I take a breath, ignoring him as I continue to walk away. This is not the time to look weak.

We walk all the way to the park, unknowingly letting go of him when we get here and just continue to go.

"Jessie." he grabs my arm, turning me around.

I look up at him, tears coming to my eyes. "We did it."

He smiles, "We did. You accomplished what you set out to do."

I nod, wiping my eyes. "But I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Why _A_ would help me."

"It's all in that text." he shrugs, "Twisted as hell, but at least they were good for something after everything they put you through."

I slowly nod, taking a breath. "I need to go home."

He nods, "I'll drop you off."

"Spend the night?"

He smiles, leaning down and kisses me. "You bet."

While trying to sleep I hear my phone buzz on the nightstand. Noel grunts in his sleep, as if waking up and I slowly open my eyes. I feel one of his arms uncoil from around me and leans over to check my phone. The light blinds me when he turns it towards us and I have to raise my hand up to block it.

"Sorry." he says in a soft voice, "Wanted to make sure it wasn't important."

"Who is it?" I rub my eyes.

"Ezra."

"Mm." I yawn, turning my body around towards him as he sets my phone back onto the table and cuddle up to him.

He wraps his arms around me again, squeezing me to him as I rest my head onto his chest. "He still trying to get you to talk to the girls?"

I take a breath, closing my eyes and then exhale slowly. "Mhm."

"Is it working?"

"Nuh uh."

He slightly laughs, kissing me on the head. "You're so cute when you're tired."

"Thanks for being here."

He squeezes me tighter, making me feel safe. "I'm always here."

"I love you."

"And I love you."


	89. Chapter 89

**Hey there everyone. Here's another chapter for you guys.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think.**

* * *

When I wake up the next morning Noel isn't in bed with me. I can hear the shower running from the bathroom in the hall. So I stretch and turn onto my back, staring at the ceiling. I yawn, rubbing my eyes and slowly sit up. I turn to the side and check that my phone is on the nightstand and remember that Ezra text me the night before. So I lean sideways to grab it and read his text, telling me that Spencer has gone out of control and asked his employee to give her weed for her nonstop mind.

I groan from annoyance, slamming myself back onto the bed. I can't deal with this again.

More days pass and now the girls have been back at school for the last couple days. Not paying attention has become harder. So when they thought it was safe to approach me on their first day back they kept it simple with the how am I doing, that they're sorry about Andrew, so I sucked it up and was nice back. I asked how they were, what they've been up to, stuff like that. But today when they ambush me at my locker after school about needing help with _A_ again, I draw the line.

"Are you all out of your minds?"

They look at each other, the mad look on my face must be making them uncomfortable. "We just…" Hanna starts.

"No." I shake my head, "You guys were gone for over a month with that psycho, and you want to get right back into this mystery?"

"This person gave us a name, Jessie." Spencer says.

"And did you tell the police about this?"

They all shake their heads, shifting their eyes away from me.

I half laugh, "Of course you didn't, silly me to ask."

"We know that it means something though." Aria gets in, watching me with caution.

"So that alone gives you the okay to go after this person on your own? After everything that's happened you think that's the smartest thing to do?"

"We want to figure out who it was." Spencer says.

I eye her for a few seconds, trying to figure out if Ezra's employee giving her the weed has her high right now. But I honestly don't care at this point. " _After_ you fucked up with Andrew."

"Oh, Jessie, come on." Emily says in a mix of annoyance and being upset.

I slam my locker door in anger, making them jump and everyone in the hall looks at us. "Come on what, Em?"

"Whoa, Jessie." Hanna says.

"You guys just want me to overlook yet another mistake you guys have made? Make it seem like it was no big deal."

"No." Emily says, shaking her head in protest. People are watching us now and I can see that all four of their faces are turning red. "But it's what you said, a _mistake_."

I slowly nod, laughing. "Yea, expect it's the millionth mistake you've made in the past two years of missing the target of who _A_ actually is. Every time you take a guess it's wrong. You got Alison sent to jail for murder, Andrew for kidnapping."

"It's not our fault we don't know who this person is, Jessie." Aria says.

"But it's your fault when you falsely accuse someone of being who they aren't. So that just makes you a liar."

Her expression gets hurt, everyone in the hall smiling our way. I don't even care that I humiliated her at this point.

"Leave me alone. I'm not helping." I shove through them and take off down the hall.

I head straight to the store after school, hoping that they don't bother to follow me. To my surprise they don't, so I take advantage of the time to myself.

After a couple hours the _Ding!_ of the bell to tell me someone came inside rings, making me look up from my homework I'm doing at the counter on this slow day. That's when I see Mona walk in, my face dropping. She had been out of town for over a week. I honestly thought her mom wasn't going to bring her back. But the good thing is that she isn't blond anymore, and looks healthy. But she still looks exhausted and scared.

Once I get over the shock I smile, walking out from behind the counter and head over to her. "Hey."

She smiles up at me, the same sad look on her face from last time and it concerns me. "I see you're not in your cast anymore." she tries to sound okay.

I half laugh, looking down at my arm. I flex my hand in an impulse to make a point of it being better. "Yea, it feels awesome."

She gets a little quiet, looking around. I honestly think this is the first time she's ever been in my store. So she is probably absorbing in the atmosphere of sports equipment.

"Hey." I put my hand on her shoulder, "You good?"

She turns back to me, half smiling. "I'm gonna get into some serious trouble for faking my death, and Alison is going to hate me."

I slightly smile, "Well. You _did_ do something illegal." I say in a joke tone.

"Helpful, thanks." she laughs.

I smile, "Lightening the mood, what can I tell you."

"I so missed your sense of humor."

I stick my tongue out in response to make her laugh, then say. "As for Alison? Fuck her. Who cares."

"I do. She can hold a grudge."

I slowly nod, "She can, but don't worry so much."

She nods a few times, as if thinking. "So I heard that you stuck up for Andrew and threw the girls aside."

My face drops, trying not to get angry. "I didn't throw them aside. They just need to learn that making bad choices is getting old."

"Jessie, I know you and Andrew have a special bond. But Aria is your best friend."

"Doesn't feel like it."

She gives me a sad look, "I know she made a mistake and pinned everything on him, the girls backing her up. But the cops handed them a massive amount of evidence to convince them it was him. That's not their fault, and you shouldn't hold that against them."

I take a breath, walking away to lock up the store. Then I get behind the counter and put my books into my backpack. "I get it." I look up and see she's standing in front of the counter now, "But the problem is that she didn't think before answering their questions. She told the cops that she _saw_ Andrew while in the bunker when she never did."

"I know."

"She didn't think, Mona. She just said it to make them have someone to blame before they fully finished their investigation. After all the "evidence" they had on him it turned out that he had an alibi for every event that he was charged with. That boy wouldn't hurt a freaking fly let alone someone he cares about. She dated the guy and then bit him in the ass with a lie."

She shifts her eyes for a second, then back to me. "So the moral of the story is that you are upset with your best friend, and the others backing her up is just making it hard to talk to any of them."

"Bingo."

She nods, "Can't you just give her a chance? She went through a lot. They all did."

I take a deep breath, "I know. It's just that I need…"

"Don't say space. Because there was way too much of that for everyone."

My chest feels tight all of a sudden, "I wasn't going to say that."

She watches me for a few seconds, then her face lights up as if she figured something out. "I know what's going on."

I give a confused look, "There's nothing going on, I'm just mad at her."

"You need the space because you don't know how to be around her anymore."

"Mona, that's not what I was going to say!"

She doesn't seem to pay attention that I'm getting pissed as she continues, "You thought she was dead, and got that so in your head that now you don't know how to handle her being back. You blame her for leaving you behind for so long and now you're holding something over her head for it."

My heart sinks, shifting my eyes away from her and start to play around with my pen. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I see her hand come into view, leaning over the counter she puts her hand under my chin and raises my head to look at her. "Jessie, don't lie to me."

I take a breath, "She moved to Europe for three years, Mona. It's nothing new."

She shakes her head, "There's a difference between moving to a different country with contact, and being kidnapped with no way to know if she's alive."

I bite my lip so hard to keep myself from crying that I start to bleed, "I don't want to have this conversation anymore."

Her eyes tear up a bit, "Are you mad at me too? For disappearing."

I lick my bleeding lip, looking away. "No."

"Yes you are."

I look at her, my tears giving in and slides down my face. "I'm mad at all of you for leaving me. For making me think you were gone."

"I'm sorry, Jessie." she gets around the counter, "I'm... _so_ sorry."

Mona hangs with me at the store for a while. We try to talk to each other about anything, but it's so hard to figure out a subject to stick with to keep her from thinking about everything she's been through. Half of the time together was silence because there was nothing I could think of. But once we do find something to talk about her mom calls her to come home. So I offer to walk with her to the Brew to pick up some coffee before she heads out.

A few days later at lunch I'm sitting with Andrew, Noel (finally being back from suspension), Tori, Carter, and Kelly. The girls aren't far from us as they whisper to each other. It always takes a lot for me to even get Andrew to consider being near them, so I try hard not to look their way so he won't leave. But I'm actually a bit worried that they are willing to put themselves in harm's way again. They are all way to into catching this _A_ that they don't seem to realize how dangerous it is. It's as if being trapped down there with this person and then seeing that Andrew isn't the one who did it was the push to fire up their anger again. Mona and Alison are probably the only smart ones out of them all. They've been staying home and not going all crazy into this stuff, wanting to keep a low profile. I don't see why they don't just stick it at their homes too. Yes, I may be a hypocrite, not staying home myself since I was also taken by _A_. But I clearly wasn't as important to this person's cause if they were in the bunker as a set while I was just a prize for them if they cooperated with demands.

After school I'm racing Annabeth through the park. Me on my board and her on her skates as we zip between people. I promised that I'd come over to do some homework before opening up the store, so we are seeing who gets to her place first. As of now, she's winning. Can't really compare a skateboard to rollerblades, it's an unfair advantage of her having eight wheels and me only four.

I don't stop though, trying everything I can to catch up to her being a good five feet in front of me. So I take a shortcut onto the street while she sticks to the sidewalk when we get out of the park and head to her block. When I see her house getting closer I hop the curb and glide on it for two feet, hitting the ground and push my foot hard enough against the ground twice to catch up inches away.

"Won!" Annabeth yells, turning in a circle as she raises her hands in the air.

"Damn it!" I jump off my board, laying on the grass of her house out of breath. I hear the thud of my board hitting something, but I don't pay attention. "I...almost...had you."

She laughs, sitting beside me as I hear her catching her breath too. "Good race."

"I'll...get you next time."

She smiles, raising her hand for a fist pound. "You're on."

I smile, hitting my fist to hers. The I take a breath, looking up at the sky. I put my hands behind my head and just take in the view. I feel like I haven't just relaxed like this in ages.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

I look at her, seeing her eyebrows raised in the air. I slightly smile, shaking my head. "Just enjoying the moment."

A few minutes of silence passes and she finally breaks it by asking if I know what I'm doing for college yet. I just shake my head, still not knowing whether to accept Kean or Hollis.

"Why the debate?"

"Kean allows me to leave town, the state all together. But Hollis lets me keep my store open on my terms, not worrying about hiring someone to keep it afloat while I'm away. The debate is whether to stick it out here or leave like I've been wanting to."

"I think you made your decision."

I look at her, sitting up. "Did I know."

She smiles, "Yes. Your store outweighs everything else in your life. You clearly love it enough to think it over. So that means you know what to do."

I half smile, "I guess I'm a genius."

She laughs, "Be an even better one knowing that I got into Hollis myself and you'll be sticking with me."

My face completely lights up, "For really?"

"Surely and truly."

Once I'm done at her house I head back to the other side of town to to open up the store. It's starting to get dark but I don't have anything else to do now that I finished my homework at Annabeth's.

As I get in front of the store I feel a tap to my shoulder, turning around to see Spencer. I'm a little surprised, because after the argument I had with them the other day about not wanting to help them with this _A_ thing they've kept their distance.

"What?"

"Jessie...don't be like this."

"Be like what? I'm just me." I reach into my pocket to grab my keys.

"This is not you."

"Why not? How do you know I wasn't always like this."

"Jessie, please hear me out. It's important."

"It's always important, Spencer."

"I know. But we have a lead."

"Mhm." I say uninterested.

"Remember that girl Leslie Stone? Mona's friend."

I unlock the door and head inside as I humor her, "The girl who told the court that Mona left her a letter, saying she was scared for her life before she supposedly died?"

She follows me, "Yea."

"What about her?"

"We found out that her and Mona knew each other from _Radley_. Not out and about like a normal person would."

This gets my attention as I turn around, my eyebrows going up. "Hold up, what?"

"That's not the worst of it."

"What could be worse."

"Leslie was there long enough to not only know Mona, but she was Bethany's roommate and new Charles."

"You lost me at Charles."

"It's a long story. The point is that _A_ is pretending to be Charles, who is actually dead and Leslie might be taking his name as a sick joke to confuse us."

"I don't get it."

"Neither do we. But I think she blames us for Bethany's death and now is out to get us because she feels like Ali killed her and believes we helped."

I take a breath, walking into my office and turn on the light. "Radley is always involved in some way, even after being closed for the last month in a half."

"So will you help? She is a teacher's assistant at a science lab over at a college in New York and we need as many people we can to snoop through it."

I shake my head, taking a breath. "I'm sorry, Spence. I'm out. I can't do this anymore."

"Jessie…"

"Spencer, I got kidnapped for the second time in two years. Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to know that I'm constantly getting into a bad situation like this because of this shit."

She gives me a sad look, nodding. "I understand."

I nod back, setting my backpack on the floor and sit on my chair at the desk. "Thank you."

"Then we'll keep you posted?"

I think about this for a few seconds, then I nod. "Sure."

She half smiles and then leaves, watching her seem upset as she does. I kind of hate myself for being such an ass.


	90. Chapter 90

**Hey Liars, hope you're all enjoying the story.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars. Credit to Sara Shepard and Freefrom.**

 **Please let me know in a review what you think.**

 **Thanks!**

* * *

I'm in the middle of doing a few things at the store when I get a call from Mona. I had text her after Spencer left, telling her that the girls have gone crazy again and are going after another lead. When I told her it was about going over to where Leslie works to check if she's _A_ she went nuts, now she's calling. It must be easier to yell than text.

"Mona, I didn't mean to get you upset about this."

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

I reach up to put something onto one of the shelves, taking a breath. "I'm glad, so what's up."

"Not much. But I was thinking. Maybe you should go with them."

I raise my eyebrow, "What, why?"

"I think you should help them, be on the same page as them."

"And what's the point in that?"

"Gives them hope that you're still around."

" _Mona_."

"Come on, Jessie. Don't be mad at them forever."

"It hasn't been long enough to be forever."

"Jessie, just humor them. Show them that you are trying to forgive."

I roll my eyes, "By investigating another false alarm?"

"Leslie may be a false alarm, but maybe _A_ planted something there for us to know who this person really is."

"And you are allowing them to go after your friend why?"

"Because now they think that I'm part of all this since I know Leslie, they don't trust me. If you can be there to see what they find and tell me then I'll be able to figure out if there's a way to change their minds about me and her. After everything I went through I wouldn't ever work with _A_ again."

"I know." I sigh, putting what I have in my hand away and head back to my office. "Okay, I'll do it. But you better have my back when this all goes to hell."

"I'll be there for you, I promise."

It gets quiet for a few seconds, "Mona?"

"Yea?"

"Why haven't you talked to Mike?"

She gets quiet, "I...I don't know."

"Are you serious right now? He's a total mess that you haven't reached out. It's been two weeks."

"I know."

"Then do me a favor and call him. Because I am not up to seeing that sad look on his face everytime he talks about you."

"Jessie, I can't. I put him through a lot."

"Mona, I'm doing you this favor. Do this for me."

She takes a breath, "Fine."

Once I hang up I call Spencer, letting her know that I'm in. She of course wonder's why the change of heart and I just tell her that I want to get to the bottom of who took us so we can get on with our lives. So she tells me she'll come get me in fifteen and I'm able to get everything else I needed to do done. The inventory is all checked out and ordered. I stocked up on what I needed to put on the shelves from what I had left, and then close up when Spencer says she's here.

When I get into Spencer's car I see Aria is in the front seat, and Hanna in the back. It looks like Em stayed behind. So I hop in the back with Hanna and they all look at me with mixed emotions. Smiles because they are clearly happy to see me, but I can tell that they aren't sure whether I'm happy to see them.

"Uh...hola?" is what I go with to break the tension.

They all laugh, Hanna giving me a light punch to the are from approval as Spencer takes off. I feel kind of awkward being around them in this atmosphere. It's one thing hanging out with them or seeing them at school, but it's a whole other story being with them for an _A_ search as if nothing has changed. Everything has changed and that's what bothers me.

After a good fifteen minutes of not talking, me because I think this is completely bad idea and them probably trying to figure out what to say, Spencer breaks the silence with the plan. As usual, we are breaking and entering. It's one thing to break into an abandoned warehouse or someone's home, but a freaking school is a whole other story. It has cameras, we can get caught so much more easily. But they swear they have it under control as Spencer had a copy of Leslie's ID card for the school to get us inside. I hate this already.

After listening to them for a bit I look out the window, trying to figure out how to interact with them. The longer I'm in here the more anxious and out of place I feel and I can't get into the conversation. Them being gone for over a month and then ignoring them for over a week didn't give me time to process their presence.

Maybe ten minutes passes of them continuing to chat up about this crazy adventure, me still not sure what to do with myself. Then I feel a hand go to my leg, making me look.

"You okay? Hanna asks

I try to smile, "Yea, I'm good."

She gives me a concerned look, "No you're not."

"I'm just…"

"Not sure how to act around us."

I laugh, trying to make it sound like a joke. "What? No."

"Jessie." Aria says, turning around in her seat. "It's obvious."

"I…"

"We get it, you know." Spencer starts, "We went MIA for a long time. I'm sure it's not easy going through that and now having to act like nothing has changed."

"Nothing's changed." I try to sound confident, knowing damn well that it has.

"But you are. You aren't you." Aria says, "You're different."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are. I've seen you, Jessie." she watches me for a few seconds, "We all have."

I shake my head, half laughing. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your guard is up in defense mode all the time." she says, "Like you don't trust anyone anymore. You seem distracted constantly and have this look in your eyes like you need to hit something, or someone to keep your emotions in check."

"I haven't seen you like this in a really long time, Jessie." Spencer gets in. "Your family dying made you that way."

"And then we helped you get through it." Aria adds, "Now it's all back."

I switch my gaze from each of them. Spencer gives me a quick look in the mirror, Aria looks like she's tearing up, and Hanna has a slight smile as if feeling uncomfortable. The only look that I see similar besides being worried is that they look exhausted.

"You guys have the same look."

They get quiet, but don't seem to pay attention to my efforts to change the subject as Spencer says. "This isn't about us."

"But…"

"Jessie, please?" Hanna says.

I start to bite the inside of my cheek, shifting my eyes down to my hands and take a breath. I wasn't planning on being sentimental, but it all just spills out. "I was lost without you guys for what felt like ever. I felt alone and scared even with people around me. I felt like I was always being attacked. I was taken away from the world for three days, tortured so bad that I had a seizure. Losing those memories terrified me, and I was tired of feeling weak."

Hanna grabs my hand, squeezing. "Then you thought that we had been dead for weeks."

I slowly nod, not looking up. "That changes a lot of things, especially a person."

It gets quiet for a long time after this conversation. No one seems to know how to react and I sure as hell don't feel like talking anymore. So eventually I knock out. The ride being long and so dead tired that I can't keep my eyes open.

After what feels like a long nap I'm shaken awake. I slowly open my eyes and see Hanna smiling down at me. I didn't realize that I fell asleep on her, I could have sworn that I had my head on the window. But I don't say anything as I stretch out, my bones feeling a bit sore and feel my back crack. Then I sit up and they tell me we are here.

I hop out of the car, looking around. The place is deserted, dark. I really hate that we do everything in the dark. This is how we get killed.

Aria taps my arm, handing me a flashlight. I smile at her, then follow behind them. I look to the sides, feeling like we are being watched.

"Leslie experiments on animals?" Aria asks when we get into the lab section of the college. The tone in her voice makes me know she's disgusted with the thought.

"Of course she does." Hanna says, "What do you think we are to her."

"Aw, look, bunnies" I say, pointing them in the cage with my flashlight, two rabbits inside.

They all turn to me. Aria is staring at me like I'm nuts, but Hanna and Spencer both laugh. My love for animals can be extreme.

"What?"

"You're too much." Spencer says, smiling.

"They're cute."

"It's animal cruelty." Aria says.

"Oh here we go." I roll my eyes.

"This is why…"

"You're a vegetarian. Yes, I know."

She gives me a look, as if about to say something. But then Spencer interrupts. "Guys, less talking more looking." she walks more into the room with Aria beside her. "Which one is her desk?"

As they walk away I stand with Hanna, she's looking at the rabbits. "Want to take them home?" she asks.

I laugh, "Sure. If I want to go to jail for stealing."

She smiles, straightening up and walks off to the others.

I look off to the side, seeing that Hanna left the door open. Typical Hanna move, so I walk back down the hall. When I get to it I hear footsteps coming from out in the hall, making my heart sink. So I slowly close the door as quickly as I can, locking the door and hope that nobody tries to walk in here as I head back to where the girls are to tell them. That's when I hear a weird noise, like a screech you'd hear when security waves the wand to look for metal on your body.

"What the hell was that?" Hanna's voice comes.

I get to where they are, watching them from the other side of the room. Hanna bends down to look at something as the same loud sound comes again, straightening up in a scared way from the noise and looks towards a wall.

Spencer stares behind her, looking at Aria in confusion.

Hanna moves closer and it sets off again.

"It sounds like a metal detector." I tell them.

"Why would a metal detector be in here?" Aria asks.

"Because they put metal trackers in the animals." Spencer says, turning back to Hanna and walks to her.

We watch as she raises her hands to Hanna's head and moves her body back and forth.

"Spence…" I try not to laugh as Aria gives me a weird look, "You okay?"

"Spencer, what are you doing?" Hanna asks as she does it again and the beep comes, "Wait."

"Shh." Spencer tells her.

"Why am I beeping."

"Shh." she says again.

"I haven't even stolen anything yet."

Spencer let's go and grabs what I realize is a wand to attract metal and puts it behind Hanna's head. It beeps the loudest when it's aimed at her neck. Then Spence freaks as she gasps, putting her hand behind her own neck and waves the wand over it. It starts to beep too.

"Spencer!" Hanna yells at her.

I jump, looking behind me. She was super loud and someone is going to hear. "Hanna, chill."

"Say something." she ignores me as she continues to scream, "Why are we, like, radioactive?"

My eyes pop out of my head, "Oh my God."

Aria turns to me, "What?"

" _A_." I say a little scared.

"What about Leslie?"

"Bitch chipped us!" Spencer yells, making us both look back to them.

My mouth slowly drops in shock, Hanna and Aria both reaching up and touch their necks. Out of impulse I do the same, "Okay, I'm leaving."

"Wait, come here." Spencer says, trying to stay calm as the other two are freaking out. "Let me check."

Me and Aria both walk over to her, lining up for her to wave the wand over our necks. Aria beeps, but I don't. Relief fills me when I realize I'm the only one who doesn't have one. But at the same time I feel totally sick to my stomach that _A_ is watching them in a more demented way than just physically following or eavesdropping on conversations.

"She chipped us?" Aria says in a loud tone, "She freakin chipped us?"

"Guys." I get out to get their attention.

"How do we get it out?" she continues, turning to Spencer.

"It had to have happened in the bunker." she tells her.

"Why?" Hanna asks.

"Because Jessie doesn't have one. Which explains why we were drugged."

Now I'm totally confused, but I don't bother asking. " _Guys_."

They turn around to me, "You're all being too loud. It's enough for the security guards to hear, can we go?"

"Not till we find what we need." Spencer says.

"You don't even know what you're looking for, Spencer."

"Yes we do. Anything that leads to her having proof of that bunker."

"And you think she's going to have that laying around the place she works?"

"Where else is better than here?"

"A lot of places are better than here." I say in an irritated tone.

She gives me a look, "Let's just keep looking."

I roll my eyes and follow their leads. God I can't believe being kidnapped didn't change a damn thing. But I don't argue as I check some cabinet drawers for files while Aria checks Leslie's desk again. Spencer and Hanna start to maneuver things around and I'm freaked that they might drop something, or set off an alarm. That's all we need.

This is getting totally ridiculous, there's no way she would physically leave evidence of stuff she used for or in the bunker. If she's _A_ that would be too stupid. And we all know that this person is too smart and dangerous to leave things like this around for anyone to find. Unless of course they want to, in which case we are going to end up in another trap.

After a few minutes Hanna walks away to another room and disappears, Spencer following behind her seconds later in what is probably curiosity. Then Aria finds something in the desk that she's not sure if it's important or not, so she walks the way the other two took off.

"Wait, Ria."

"I'll be right back, keeping looking."

Hell no am I staying here by myself as I watch her walk through the door to the next room. So I go to follow her, but accidentally bump into the desk and make paper fall over all the floor.

"Damn it." I sigh and bend down, scooping everything up.

When I stand up I place everything back where they were. Then I look at the door in fear when I hear a yell of what sounds like terror from the room that the girls went to, making my heart sink.

"Guys?" I take a step, but before I can go anywhere I feel myself get pulled and a hand slaps over my mouth from behind. "Mm!"

"Shh, it's just me."

The hand lets go and I turn around, "Mona." I take a relieved breath, "Shit, what the fuck."

"Sorry. I wanted to make sure you didn't scream out when I touched you."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I told you I'd have your back."

Another scream comes from the room, "What is going on in there."

"You're friends are going to get us all caught."

We both walk over to the room, hearing them talk loudly. "Can you guys be any louder?" I say to them, then the lights go off, "Oh no."

"What just happened, why did the lights go out." I hear Hanna's voice.

Then a lamp comes on from beside me, Mona's standing there with her hand on the switch. "Mona, stop doing that!"

"Have you guys lost your minds." she tells them, looking at each in turn.

"Mona, you followed us here, _again_." Hanna says a little pissed.

"Why did you turn the lights off?" Aria asks in just as pissed of a tone.

"So the security guard wouldn't see us." Mona walks closer.

"Us?" Aria says, "Oh come on, Mona. You're not working with us, you're working for _A_."

"Stop." I say, "Knock it off."

They don't even seem to be paying attention at this point as they start to talk as if they don't care. Like they know everything, as usual. They believe that Leslie is _A_ for whatever reason, no proof to back it up. But they think that Mona helped her because they are friends. That she wants revenge for Bethany just because they were roommates. None of it solid evidence, but all of it makes sense in their minds. But none of it even makes sense to me because I've been out of the loop for so long that I wasn't explained anything.

Mona tells them differently, that Charles is still alive because when Spencer hands her the file they stole from Radley saying he died she says that the meds he was taking wouldn't have allowed him to donate his organs.

"So this Charles guy is actually alive." I say, not sure how to react about the potential person who took me having a falsified file on his death.

"Pretty sure." Mona says, "Wouldn't make sense for him to be dead with this type of evidence."

Then a sound comes from outside the door, making us all jump. I run off to the side with Mona to get a space to hide while the others go the opposite way. The door opens, footsteps walk inside. Then just as quickly it closes. Once this person bypasses the room we all take off and leave. I go with Mona and the girls go with Spencer.

I must say, I'm a little pissed that I allowed her to convince me to get involved again. But at least now I know the name to the man who may be the one who kidnapped us all.


	91. Chapter 91

**Hey guys! So sorry for the delay in updating. I've been super busy.**

 **So here you go. Thanks for being so patient.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars, belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

The following day I feel the heat of the sun in my face from the window, making me annoyed and wake up. I groan in annoyance and stretch. When I open my eyes I see Noel laying beside me.

"Hey." He smiles when he looks my way, leaning in to kiss me. "Good sleep?"

After the night I had I asked him to pass by, he wound up sleeping over. And to anyone's surprise, so Aria. She had came around in the middle of the night after leaving Spencer's, too freaked out by everything going on to go home. She woke us up by banging on the door and I was so ready to yell before I knew it was her. Noel thought I shouldn't be giving her the time of day after everything she's put me through, but she's still like my sister. After all the space I realize was just really mean of me to do I knew that I couldn't bail on her, so I let her stay.

I laugh, nodding. "Great sleep with you here."

"Good." he smoothes my bangs behind my ear, "Aria is still asleep in the guest room. I have to go. But I'll see you later, okay?"

I turn on my back and stretch, yawning. "Okay."

"I made coffee, left you some."

"What time is it?"

"Around one."

"Oh, crap."

He laughs, "Clearly you were tired."

"I haven't slept late in awhile."

"I know. That's why I let you sleep in."

"Thank you."

He kisses me on the cheek, "I love you."

I pull him to me and kiss him again, "I love you too."

When I get up I take a shower and then go to check on her. I peek inside and see she's still knocked out. Seeing her here feels weird, yet good at the same time.

I watch her for a few minutes as she sleeps, still getting used to her short hair as it goes over her face. I wonder if it reminds her of being down there, of _A_ cutting her hair for disobeying orders. I still wonder what else she went through, because she only dropped bits and pieces before I exploded on her about Andrew.

I take a deep breath, walking away as I close the door behind me. I walk over to the kitchen to grab some coffee and then head out to the Brew to grab some food for us. I haven't gone shopping yet, so I don't have much around to eat.

When I get out of the alley and turn to go to the Brew I see Toby walking to the alley beside the Brew to get to his apartment. He's been out of town for a few day for a police seminar.

"Tobs!"

He looks over this way and smiles when he sees me, walking over. "Jessie, hey."

I hug him when he gets to me, "Missed you."

"Me too. How's everything."

I pull away, nodding. "It's fine. Just the usual."

He gives me a sad look, "People still giving you a hard time."

"Yep. But that's not important."

"Jessie."

"Toby, listen. I have good news."

His eyebrows raise, "Yea?"

I nod, "I was going to tell you when it happened, but I thought it would be better in person."

He smiles, "Okay."

"Blake is history."

Now he goes into confused mode, "What do you mean?"

"Don't ask me why or how this happened, but _A_ helped me."

"Wait...what?"

"Again, don't ask. All I know is that _A_ had a recording of the exact day he tried to rape me and sent it to me. It was enough to get him kicked out of school and away from me."

His mouth slowly drops, "That's insane."

" _A_ is insane, what are you expecting."

"So this person hurt you, and then...helped you."

"Seems to be the idea."

As the day goes on it doesn't turn out too bad. I hung out with Toby for a couple hours till he had to go to work. Aria went home once she woke up, letting me know she had a few things to do. I feel a little bad not going back up there to see her, because in all honesty I totally forgot she was even at my place. Then when he takes off for work I head to the store to open it up, having a great day of income.

The only bad thing to happen was that the girls went on another chase after _A_ after finding out some new information. This person is that Charles guy they are talking about, apparently he is actually a DiLaurentis, a brother to Jason and Alison. So when Charles reached out to Jason because it's this person's birthday they told Toby to meet them there. All hell broke loose though when they went after him tonight. The plan backfired and _A_ got away. Of course I did my share of yelling at Aria and Spencer as soon as I found out from her parents, giving them a piece of my mind about how stupid of an idea it was to go after the exact person who kidnapped them to begin with.

Then I get a call from Toby about an hour later, he's fuming.

"She was so stupid." he tells me, "She's doing drugs again, and had it inside freaking gummie bears in her bag. I had no idea and ate it."

"Wait, you what?"

"Yea, Jessie. But the worst part is that it was during the chase for Charles. I was on the _job_. My partner got hurt and lost Charles because I was freaking high."

Okay, I'll admit, it sounds a little funny. Horrible of course because he could have seriously gotten hurt trying to get _A_. But funny because that's some crazy shit to happen on a TV show.

"I can't believe she's using again." I say disappointed, "What the hell is wrong with her."

He takes a breath, "I don't know, Jessie. But she sure as hell needs to get herself together. Just because she got taken for a month doesn't mean she should go doing that again to relieve the stress."

"Was that her excuse?"

"Sure as hell was."

A few days pass and now everyone knows that Charles is the person who has had it out for the girls all year. The person who took them for over a month, Mona for five months, Sara for four years and me for those few days. Out of all of us the girls continue to tell me that I'm the lucky one. That not remembering what I went through, what they saw me go through from that seizure is the best. That at least it allows me to sleep at night. For one, I barely sleep knowing that _A_ is still out there, still having nightmares at what _A_ had shown me in those videos. I may not mentally remember the torture, but I visually know what happened and it's no less of torture. I mean, okay, the point they are trying to make is that me forgetting was lucky. But they don't seem to realize that how I lost my memory is not good. I have to be careful on how much I stress out my body now. I may not have cared when I was making myself crazy trying to find them, but the closer to graduation it becomes the more I want to make sure I make it to see myself in a cap and gown.

After school today I head home, needing to clean up the house. Annabeth is planning on coming over in about an hour to hang out. After all the chaos from the last few days she thinks I need the break and time to stop thinking, because the whole town knowing who actually took me does not make me any less interesting to stare at.

After I clean I head down to grab some food from the Brew. Annabeth meets me here and we walk over to my place together, climbing the steps in the alley.

I hand her the food as I grab my keys and stick it into the slot. When I get it open I stand to the side so she can walk in first, then I step inside my house and turn on the light. That's when I feel a shove from behind, making me topple forward and trip over my feet. I catch my footing and start turning around, feeling a punch to the stomach and hunch over in pain.

"Jay!" Annabeth's voice comes from the kitchen in front of me.

"I see you have a new friend. Haven't scared her off yet?"

I cough from the lack of breath as I recognize that voice. Annabeth puts her hand to my back when she gets to me and I straighten up. "Amber."

She smiles evilly, walking sideways. "Missed me?"

I rub my stomach, I haven't seen her in a really long time. "Not really." I say sarcastically

A glimpse of movement comes to the side, noticing that's it's not Annabeth when I look. It's Rachel and to a bit of my surprise Emma.

"Found a new member I see."

She smiles, "Well, considering that we all have the same thing in common it's hard not to like them."

"Them?" I ask confused, because Rachel isn't exactly a new addition.

Then the sound of the door closing and locking comes from beside us. Luna is here too.

I try not to freak as I slowly nod, "Oh."

Luna smiles, "Scared?"

I laugh, shaking my head. "Of you?" I smile, "Sure. Terrified."

"Still a smartass I see." Amber says as Luna gets beside her.

I watch them for a second, "So what could you possibly have so in common with them that you added new people to your group? Your brother and Rachel not enough."

She gives me a mean look, then nods in a boss type of way.

Rachel shoves her way between me and Annabeth, blocking her from me.

"Hey!" she yells.

Emma grabs onto my arms and pulls them behind my back, holding them in place with one arm and holds onto my shoulder with her other hand.

I move to the side, trying to get away. "Get the hell off me."

Amber walks forward, "What we have in common is that we all hating you."

"Whoa. Hold on."

"You like to ruin people's lives, Brant." Amber continues.

"False statements to get others into trouble should put _you_ in jail." Luna says as she walks closer, seeming to let her anger get the better of her as she gives me a right hook to the face. She hits me so hard it feels like my teeth got knocked out.

"Leave her alone!"

The pain was definitely no joke, but I try to keep myself composed as I spit out blood. I look at Annabeth as Rachel continues to keep her from me. Then I turn back to Luna and smirk, my inner Ali coming out. I think I've hung out with her for too long. "Oh, Lune. You really need to stop defending your asswhole brother."

I shouldn't of said it, but it was so worth it. The look on her face makes me smile, because she so did not see that coming and I start to crack up.

"You think that's funny?"

"Absolutely."

She looks really taken back by this comment, looking at the others in confusion. "You love to get your ass beat don't you?"

"The fact that you are beating up your old best friend is kind of sad, Lune. Makes you seem weak."

"Really?"

I smile, "Yep."

She laughs, "Wow. Did that psychopath damage you so bad that you have no more feelings. Turning into him?"

My face drops, an image of someone in a black hoodie going in and out. I wish I could see past the face, but all I can think is of Mona behind it. "What kind of freaking question is that?"

"The type that makes me wonder if this person screwed you up more than..."

"I'm not screwed up."

She laughs, "You so are, Jessie. Just the look in your eyes alone makes me see that."

"And this gives you the right to hurt me?"

"This gives me the right to show you that our friendship was wrong."

"It wasn't wrong."

"Yes it…"

"They put bullshit in your head. I treated you like a sister."

"You treated me like I didn't matter!"

"That's not true."

She eyes me for a few seconds, seeming to debate something. "There's something about you, Jay. You're not the scared person we all saw the other times we got on your ass. What's changed."

"I have, Luna. I'm not going to let you bully me for your own personal fun anymore."

"Is that so."

I nod, "Yes."

Emma pulls my arms in a way that hurts my shoulder, "Don't be a smartass."

"Mmm." I groan in pain.

Amber laughs, "Such a loser."

Annabeth yells in anger to let me go, I turn to her and see that she bumps Rachel to the side and kicks her in the shin.

"Why you." she says, tackling her to the ground.

"Annabeth!"

Rachel punches her in the face and then gets her up, putting her into a headlock.

I struggle to get to her, looking at them all with fury in my eyes. "Stop. Your beef is with me. Not her."

I see Luna has the same mean look I do as she says, "You're right."

"What?" They all ask in confusion. I'll admit I'm right with them on that.

"Let Jessie go. Fight me if you're so tough."

I feel Emma slip her arm from mine and I pull away in anger. "Fine, but if I win you have to admit that I didn't falsely accuse Blake. Have your friends leave me alone, because you heard the audio, no one can make that up."

She just gives me a forced smile, "Sure."

I know for a fact that's a lie, but I could hope for the best.

Emma walks away from me and stands over by Rachel. They rearrange themselves so they are both holding onto Annabeth's arms as she struggles around.

"Jessie, don't." Annabeth says.

I put a reassuring smile,"It's okay."

"No, you...mm."

Rachel slaps her hand over Annabeth's mouth, "Brit, shut up."

I don't even have time to react as Luna takes a cheap shot and tackles me.

"Hey!" I cough and gasp for air as I hit the floor stomach first, "Cheater."

She gets up and goes to kick me, but I manage to roll out of the way and she misses.

I get to my feet and I take a swing but she dodges it. I get another swing with my other hand and this time I get her in the jaw, making her jerk over to the side from the force of the hit.

We aren't at it for long, because she isn't built for this. Sure, she can play basketball and softball, but fighting is a whole other level of skill that she clearly rarely uses. So after a few good hits each she has a busted lip and a bruise on her jaw. I can tell she's tired as she sways a bit, as if seeing double. So I decide to end it as I get one last punch to her face and she is down in a heartbeat.

I slump down onto my knee from exhaustion, keeping myself up with one of my hands. "Now get out of my house."

Amber stares at me, her eyes flamed. "You'll regret that, Brant." then walks over to Luna and helps her sit up, she looks a little dazed.

"Not before I give you a beating too."

She laughs, "Sure. Whatever you say."

" _Get_ out."

She helps Luna to her feet, looking over my head as she tells the others to let Annabeth go.

It sounds like they throw her onto the floor, but then I hear footsteps running to me and she's by my side. "You okay?" She looks a little teary, her lip is cut open.

I half smile as she touches my cheekbone and I wince, "Ow. Yea, I'm good."

"See you around, Brant." Amber says, walking to the door with Luna.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out." I say to them.

Rachel turns to me before she leaves, the look in her eyes is not good. I can't believe we used to get along at some point. But she just turns back and leaves.

After the door shuts my confidence dies out. My face goes from smiling to sinking in pain, my body starts to give out as I go forward onto her more and she has to hold me up. It was too much energy wasted on being snarky. How does Alison do it.

"You're so not okay."

I position myself so I'm sitting now and wave a hand, "I'm fine."

"Jay, stop talking rubbish. You're clearly in pain."

"Nothing I haven't been through before."

"You let those girls humiliated you."

"I think I humiliated them. I beat the hell out of Luna."

"Will you take this seriously?"

"Oh, Annabeth, relax."

She shakes her head a few times, "What has gotten into you?" her eyes dart around my face, I'm afraid to know what it looks like. "Your personality was so off."

I take a painful breath, my ribs bothering me a bit. I know she's not used to seeing me get picked on, seeing me act like that for my benefit, so I feel a little bad. "I'm just tired of looking like I can't take care of myself."

"Well you made your point. Scarily made your point, but nonetheless you did."

I half smile, "Good."

She shakes her head a few times, seeming to be lost for words. Then she smiles, "You were such a badarse though."

I laugh, "That's what I was going for."

She takes a breath, crisscrossing her legs in front of me as she still holds my hands to keep me steady so I won't topple over. "I should have been able to back you up."

"Hey, that's not your fault."

"I felt helpless watching you get hurt."

I watch her for a few seconds. Then I reach up and touch the cut on her lip, making her wince a bit. "You need ice. It's getting swollen."

"Mum and dad are going to have a fit."

"You can stay over if you want. There's no school tomorrow."

She takes a breath, nodding. "Sounds like a brilliant idea."


	92. Chapter 92

**Hi Liars! I know I've been so MIA lately. So sorry!**

 **Who has seen the new episode?! Who is excited about it being back? And who is totally devastated that it's ending? (Insert Aria's cry face here)**

 **Anywho, here's the next chapter for you all.**

 **I've fallen completely behind on this story, haven't been working on it for awhile. So I haven't written anything else but this. Which means it's a good chance that I won't be updating this one in a longer span of time than usual. Forgive me!**

 **I do not own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Let me know in the comments what you think of the chapter and of the premiere episode!**

* * *

We sit in the living room for a while, watching TV. The look of what seemed like uncertainty on Annabeth's face is a little alarming. She seems as if she's only half paying attention to what we are watching, as if distracted. I guess after what happened today makes sense.

Then she gets up and heads to the bathroom. I watch her walk all the way over to the hallway and turn back to the TV. I can feel the heaviness in my eyes, feeling so exhausted right now. I'm so going to knock out on her when she gets back.

Then I hear her footsteps coming back this way. Eventually she stops and gets my attention with, "I called the police."

I slowly turn to her, my face dropping. "What?"

She's standing by the hall still, as if trying to keep away. "Those girls broke into your house and purposely hurt you, hurt me. That's assault."

"Do you have any idea what they'll do to us?"

She shrugs, "I don't care."

" _Annabeth_."

"I'm serious, Jessie. They've clearly been bothering you forever. And you've taken no legal action. You need to."

I take a breath, turning away from her. "I'm not going to give them another reason to try and hurt me."

"It doesn't seem like they care. They'll hurt you no matter what."

I shake my head a few times, not being able to believe she did that.

She seems to sense my anger and finally gets closer, sitting beside me. She grabs my chin and forces me to look at her, "I'm sorry. But I'm not going to stand by and allow them to do stuff like this. I won't allow them to feel like they got away with another victory."

I take a breath, then slightly smile. "I know. And I'm sorry I couldn't keep you from getting hurt."

She waves a hand, "I'm fantastic, don't worry."

The person who ends up at my door not too long later is Toby. I'm so grateful for this as seeing him sends a spark of relief through me.

His first reaction is from having the cut to my lip and bruised cheekbone. But after the shock of it he lectures me on how I shouldn't have waited so long, then proceeds to taking our statements. He assures us that he'll protect me, protect us if needed. To not be scared of those girls. I'm not sure about her, but I'm totally terrified.

"They are _so_ going to kill us." I tell Annabeth when Toby leaves.

"Not unless they get into serious trouble."

"Like how?"

"Being expelled? This isn't the first time they've hurt people, especially when it comes to you."

After a couple more hours of TV, we head to bed. I go to sleep tonight to what felt like peace, until I had a nightmare

 _A's black hooded figure is standing over me. The face not able to see who it is. They have chains in their hands, the girls behind this person dead on the floor with blood spilled around them._

 _I feel weak, my body hurts. I look to the side and see a mirror, my face is cut and bruised. Blood gushing from the gashes._

 _Then Alison comes and stands beside A, "Charles don't." She tells him, tears staining down her face._

" _Ali, help me." I get out weakly._

" _I'm protecting you." a robotic male voice comes, staring at her._

" _Not like this."_

 _He turns back to me, tilting his head like he's a lost puppy debating what he was told. "Why?"_

" _Because she's innocent."_

" _I don't think so." he charges forward._

"No, stop!" I sit up in a sweat, seeing the faint light of morning coming through the window of my room.

I turn my head to both sides of the space, checking for _A_. No not _A_ , Charles. Alison's freaking brother. I don't know what's different about this person compared to the others they've claimed to be _A_ but I have a feeling this might be the real deal.

The door to my room flies open, Annabeth running inside in panic. "What? What is it?"

I look at her in confusion for a second, I completely forgot she stayed over. "What?"

"You were screaming."

I take a breath, shaking my head. "I'm good, sorry."

"That's your favorite line. Will you stop acting tough and admit when something's wrong?"

I take a breath, rubbing off the sweat from my face. "It was just a dream, Annabeth."

"Sounded more like a nightmare."

I half smile, "Yea, but it's nothing that'll keep me worried all day."

"Promise?"

I nod, smiling. "Yea."

She eyes me for a few seconds and then walks closer. She sits in my bed, searching my face as if trying to read my mind.

"What?" I asks confused.

"I don't know. Just have a bad feeling."

"Well that doesn't sound good."

She half smiles, "I can't explain it."

"Are you psychic?"

She laughs, "No. I wish."

I half smile, then I point to her face. "Lip looks better."

"Does it?"

I nod, "Yes."

She takes a relieved breath, "Your face doesn't look as bad either."

"If we hide out for another day then we won't have to worry about it too much."

She laughs, "Sounds like you been through this a lot more than you want to admit."

I shift my eyes away from her's, "Growing up here hasn't been the best honestly."

We talk a little more, having a heart to heart. She asks me to tell her more about my time in Jersey, how it compared to here. The most obvious was that there was no such thing as _A_ there, so I had no worries besides being the oddball shy kid who had a hard time making friends. Then she tells me more about her life in London, how lonely she always felt at school. How her parents always taking off on business trips never made her feel appreciated. Her brother feeling more like a parent than they did because he was there for her constantly.

The only reason they moved here at all is because her parents got promoted from managing drawing art to photo art. They are now the managers of a company in Philadelphia called the Cardillo Arts Fellowship, CAF for short. Which I realize sounds familiar when I remember that this is the place that Aria decided to send in her photos for a contest happening tonight.

"Wait, your parents run this place?"

She smiles a bit, nodding. "Yea, why? Interested?"

I half smile, shaking my head. "Oh, no. It's just Aria takes pictures and apparently this guy she met at Hollis told her about that contest they are having, and she got picked."

"Whoa, that's awesome. She must be really good to get their attention."

I give a guilty look, "I actually haven't seen any of her stuff. It's a new development she got into since she was rescued. I think it calms her down."

From here I go over to the bathroom, checking my face in the mirror. I of course still have the bruised cheekbone and cut lip. If it had been anyone else I got into a fight with I probably would have had more face injuries, but most of Luna's blows were to my body. So I'm a little sore.

Once I'm done using the bathroom and get dressed we decide to suck it up that our faces look like shit and head to the Brew. When we walk inside, Aria is sitting with some guy at one of the sofa's, talking. But who I notice is Ezra being a total creep as he eavesdrops on their conversation, pretending to put up books on the shelf nearby. I know he's pretending because he's standing in that "mid-putting something away" position as he slightly has his head turned to listen in.

I half laugh, walking over to him as Annabeth orders us some food and coffee. "Earth to captain obvious."

Ezra shifts his eyes away from the shelf and to me, "Jessie." he smiles, but then it fades just as quickly. "Whoa, what happened to you?"

I slightly smile, waving my hand. "Nothing. I goofed with my stuff at the store."

In the background we can still just make out Aria and this guy talking, him asking about the whole Charles thing. About her running off with the girls to try and catch him being dangerous. I can tell that Ezra is still half listening to them, but he is trying to keep his attention to me too.

"What?" he asks me in confusion.

"The inventory fell on me, but I'm fine."

Annabeth walks over, handing me a coffee as he says, "I know when you're lying to me, Jessie.".

"Hey, Mr. Fitz."

He stares at her, "Hello, Annabeth. Please, call me Ezra. I'm not your teacher anymore, and any close friend of Jessie's is welcome to call me by my first name."

She laughs, nodding. "Noted."

"So?" he looks at me again, "What happened."

I roll my eyes, " _Ezra_."

"What? I can't be a concerned friend."

"What's going on?" Annabeth asks.

"You're friend here is trying to convince me that she got her face like that because of some inventory that fell on her." he stares at her for a second, "Which seeing you have the same lip injury I'm going to take a wild guess that you two got into a fist fight."

We both look at each other, trying to have a silent conversation. Then I take a breath, "Fine. Okay. We did. But don't make it a bigger deal than it is."

He shakes his head, "You need to stop lying, Jessie." he shifts his eyes away for a second and checks where Aria is sitting. "I get enough of that from Aria."

I turn to his gaze, seeing the kid get up off the sofa and walks out of the Brew. "It's not a big deal." I say as I turn back to him, "It wasn't that bad of a fight."

But he's not paying attention anymore as he seems to have forgotten our convo and he takes off to grab something from the table in front of Aria.

I put my hands up in confusion to his attention span and look at Annabeth with a weird look. She just laughs and tells me to be grateful that he didn't give me more of an earful to this conversation. Then she tells me that maybe I shouldn't lie to the people closest to me, that it's what keeps them apart.

We walk over to another set of sofa's on the other end of the coffee shop and hang out here for awhile. We continue to talk until Aria walks over, she looks like she's about to ask a question until her expression changes and she asks about my face. This time I decide not to lie and tell her what happened the day before. She freaks a little about the whole situation, but she doesn't give me a speech about wanting me to go tell adults like she normally would because I already told her about Toby keeping an eye on this. Instead she goes back to her original thought, asking me if I can help her convince her mom to let her go to the event tonight.

"What about your brother's dinner for Lacrosse, Ria? We can't just skip out on that."

"This is important, Jessie. I've worked hard for this."

I take a breath, nodding. "Well I'll come by later, I'm kind of busy at the moment." I look at Annabeth.

Aria shifts her eyes to her, "Oh, shoot. Right, sorry. You guys are hanging out."

"I don't mind." Annabeth says, "I forgot that I also have to go to that event myself. So I have to head home anyway, raincheck?"

"You're a photographer?" Aria asks.

"Her parents are the ones who manage the CAF." I tell her.

Her eyebrows go up, "No way."

Annabeth half smiles, "Congrats on getting chosen."

"Thanks. But if I can't get my mom to agree to let me go I won't even be able to submit anymore photo's for tonight."

"I'll talk to her." I say, "No problem."

A problem was exactly what it was. Aunt Ella doesn't trust having Aria away from the family, wanting all of us to be at the dinner. That was the only reason I was going too, she's still paranoid about Charles and is trying to include me in more family events.

"Ara tells me that you have concerns about her attendance tonight." Lieutenant Tanner asks Aunt Ella, "That she's up for an award."

Aria got Ezra to talk to Tanner for her. She wanted to see if Tanner could see if she can allow police to watch her if she goes to this event. Seeing if that could get her mom to reconsider.

I look down at the pictures that Aria was just showing Tanner on the table in the study, blocking out the convo about how Aunt Ella seems to be scared. I don't want to eavesdrop, so it's easier to keep my attention to this. I'll have to admit that they are very interesting. I didn't know she was good with a camera.

For a few minutes Tanner and Aria are doing everything to get Aunt Ella to agree. So I shift over to the family room, taking out my cell to text Andrew. He's been a little bummed out lately because some people still look at him as if he did something wrong. When this town gets something in their heads sometimes they don't let go even after it's told to be untrue.

"Jessie, come with?" I hear Aunt Ella's voice a few minutes later.

I turn to the side, "What?"

"To the art gallery. If she goes, I'm going and I'd like for you to come too."

"What about Mike's dinner?"

"He'll understand."

"The police protection is for your benefit too, Jessie." Tanner says, "I think it be wise to be where they are going to be patrolling."

I still don't trust Tanner as far as I can throw a basketball after all the crap she's put the girls through. Even as far as seeming to accuse me of having something to do with it, but I agree. More because Aunt Ella looks like she needs the boost than anything else.

I half smile, nodding. "I guess it's a good thing that I like art then."


	93. Chapter 93

**Hey there, Liars! Okay, yes I know, I've been gone from here for pretty much ever. I lost the inspiration to write and hadn't been in much a mood for it. I'm still not fully inspired at the moment, but I decided to try to at least give you a new chapter to hold you up. Will I be back quick? I have no idea honestly, but I needed to make sure you guys knew I was still thinking of you and trying my hardest to get back into writing. So here it is.**

 **I do not own Pretty Little Liars, belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Now as we all know, PLL is officially over and the finally was...well, to me, shitty. But that's only my opinion. What did you guys think? Let me know in a review and please drop me some feedback on the chapter and story.**

 **Thanks!**

* * *

For a few hours I stayed at Aria's, feeling a little off on going to this art gallery. I have a super weird vibe about it, not really knowing how to voice that concern to her. I don't want to freak her out after everything, so I keep my mouth shut, hanging downstairs in the study with Aunt Ella as she went to her room to see what to wear when Emily came over. That's more their territory than mine, so I didn't feel the need to help out.

I continued to look at Aria's photos, trying to get the creepy sensation it made me feel out of my head. Dolls, that's what most of these were about. I don't know what made her decide that dolls would be her new focus on being artsy, but it kind of fits into her wild side a bit.

After a few more minutes of silence, I feel a hand wrap around my arm. My heart jumped for a split second, being taken off guard. But once I relaxed I saw Aunt Ella staring, her expression a little hard to read, her eyes out of focus.

I blink a few times in confusion, watching her eyes, seeing the concern all of a sudden. "What's wrong?"

"You think this is a good idea?" she grazes her finger onto my cheekbone, making me wince from the cut. I told her the truth on what happened with the girls that ambushed me and Annabeth, deciding she'd had enough secrets hidden from her.

I half smile once I get the hurt feeling of the wound out of my head, "You mean going to the art show?"

She nods, watching me for a few long seconds. "She's not ready. I can sense she's not ready."

"Aunt Ella, Aria is as ready as can be with her art."

She shakes her head, walking to the family room. "Not that, Jessie." she turns back to me, "Being out in the open like that, while that...that person is still on the loose."

I give her a sad look, walking closer. "She wants this, whether she's ready or not it's her choice to decide."

That didn't seem to be what she wanted to hear, but she nods anyway, half smiling at me. Then she leans in and hugs me, her body tensing as if she'd been holding in her emotions forever. I can't say I blame her, being a parent and having your kid missing for so long, and trying not to be so protective after everything must be hard.

I wrap my arms around her, setting my chin to her head. "Everything is going to be fine."

Minutes later, the sound of someone speeding downstairs comes. Their feet banging on the steps so loud we could hear it from over here. We both let go of each other, turning towards the study at the same time in confusion. That's when Aria stormed through from the hallway and into the study, her face a little upset.

I give Aunt Ella a weird look, the same face reflecting back to me. Then we turn back to Aria, who had her arms crossed over her chest, a mixed emotion look on her face that I could not figure out.

"Can't find something to wear?" her mom asks, raising an eyebrow.

Aria shakes her head, "No, I found something."

"Okay?" I say, completely lost now. "Then why do you look pissed."

She doesn't stare at me, her eyes set on her mom for a long time. "Did she tell you that I may not be allowed to go to prom?"

My face goes to more confusion, watching her. I switch my gaze from her to her mom a few times before I finally answer. "No?"

"Well, Emily just told me that Hackett sent out an email to all of our parents saying that there's debate on whether to let us go to prom."

My expression changes as my mouth opens in shock, "Wait...what?"

"Apparently because of our kidnapper still being at large, Hackett and concerned parents don't want us to interfere with the rest of the students fun and safety."

I slightly laugh in disbelief, shaking my head. "That's a joke, right? There's no way you can't go to prom, you're seniors, you deserved to be there." I turn my gaze to my aunt, "Aunt Ella…"

She gives me a sad look, then stares back at Aria. "I didn't want to tell you until it was for sure. Myself and the other girl's moms are going to help fight this."

"This is ridiculous!" I shake my head, annoyed. "I can't go to prom without my best friend. No way."

Aria slightly smiles, shifting her eyes. "You're going."

"Aria…"

"You're going whether I am or not. Don't ruin your day because of this."

I sigh, sitting down. "This is stupid."

After this chat, Aria went back upstairs, and I went home to find something to wear. I hate dressing up, but it's for my best friend, I'll suck it up.

Once I shower and get ready, a couple hours later I hear a honk from outside and a text pops onto my phone. It's Ezra, telling me he's outside. Since I still don't have my own car after it got wrecked from the car accident, I need rides to places. Normally I'd take my skateboard, but this wasn't really the place to skid across the sidewalk in nice clothes in front of a fancy get together.

The place was nice, a good turnout of people since there was more than just Aria who got chosen for their artwork. So once I notice Annabeth I walk towards her, seeing that she's hanging over by her parents and brother. She waves at me, smiling a bit as I walk their way to chat. Her family seems to love me, which is always a new thing to get used to after life in this town being weird and not so welcoming. So I do my best to interact, talk it up and relax.

The good news for her is that she doesn't have her parents down her throat about getting attacked, why? Because she didn't tell them. She came up with some lie about running into a door at my place and split open her lip. As for me? I couldn't use the same excuse, saying that I tripped off my board after a nasty fall. Annabeth was afraid that her parents would freak out.

When I turn around at one point to shift my eyes to look for Aria, I see her hanging with Ezra, seeming to be having a good conversation. Then I spot Hanna and Spencer finally walk in after being super late. They were supposed to be here a long time ago. The looks on their faces makes me know something's up, I've gotten very good at figuring them out. What confirms my suspicion is when Emily walks over and starts to chat with them, her face switching to the same expression.

 _Oh for God's sake, don't they give it a rest._ I think to myself as I try to focus on the new conversation Annabeth started with the group of us.

Thankfully though, I don't have to focus for long as her parents leave, announcing it's time to reveal the finalist's photos, having everyone walk to the back of the gallery where it's going to be shown.

Aria stands with her mom and the girls at the front of the crowd, while I stand behind them with Annabeth and her brother. I give Aria a quick squeeze to her shoulders, making her turn to me and she smiles. I smile back, giving her a look to relax because she seems to be ready to pass out. Once she turns around and we listen to the speech that Annabeth's mom is saying, Aria slowly walks closer and we watch as they turn on the lights to all of the finalist's photos against the back walls.

My smile fades quick, seeing the pictures on Aria's section of the wall. Why, you ask? Why did I seem to hate what was up there? Well that's because it was something much worse than her creepy dolls. I finally realized in this moment that everything was about to go to shit after all day seeming to be so normal. I knew it was too good to be true.

"Oh my God." I whisper, watching the photos with wide eyes.

The four photos on the wall was not of the dolls of what we all thought she was showing everyone. Instead what hung in their places are what look to be dead and pale faces of Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily. All four of their bodies covered in some type of blanket and are laying on tables from what would be seen at a morgue.

My stomach turns, feeling sick. My breath gets caught in my throat as I shift my eyes away and stare at my four best friends. The looks on their faces are not only embarrassed, but scared...terrified.

Annabeth grabs onto my arm, her face dropped in totally shock when she noticed the pictures in Aria's section. She was confused, not understanding. "This is what she decided to show?"

I shake my head, my head spinning a little. "No...that's, that's when my friends were missing."

Her face drops even more as I pull away from her grasp and stand beside Aunt Ella, grabbing onto her hand. She doesn't look at me, my mind is racing. This is totally disgusting.

Aria turned to look at me quick, the look in her eyes was ready to lose her shit. So I ran towards her as fast as I could, grabbing her around the middle before she could faint and carried her over towards the bathroom. She lost her cool as soon as the door closed behind us.

"Charles did that." she says, losing her breath as she barely got that out.

I keep hold of her, afraid she'd fall. "I know." I try to keep my voice relaxed and steady for her sake, "Just breathe, okay?"

"Breathe?!" she yells at me, making me jump out of my skin. "Jessie..." she can't even talk anymore, her eyes dimmed out as if losing her focus.

"Aria..." I slowly set her down, "Please, please calm down."

It took a while to relax her, she was so freaked. She just saw how Charles took this to another level and exposed what happened to them in that bunker to the entire gallery to see. This person is so demented, I can't figure this out at all. Who hates them this much to be so mean.

Once I was able to get her out of the bathroom and into the gallery room, we saw that everyone cleared out. The undercover cops called for backup and the rest showed up, they did what they had to. Taking pictures, evidence, etc. It was like living another nightmare all over again, and I know that if I could barely handle it, that the girls were for sure freaking the hell out.

According to Tanner, she thinks that Charles was trying to make a point that she couldn't have the girls. That for some reason, Charles feels as if Tanner saving they from the bunker she stole the girls from him, like his personal dolls.

I stood close by as Aunt Ella talked to Tanner, listening to this with disgusted feeling in my stomach. Not only was I mad, but Aunt Ella was furious, yelling at her. I'm not used to this side of my aunt, but she's in mom mode now and I couldn't blame her.

"When are you going to find him!?" she yells, making me jump a little.

Tanner's face didn't change, watching us all with a calm look. "I have to get back to the precinct, I suggest each of you give your statement to my detectives before you leave." she gives one more nod to us as if saying goodbye and then takes off.

I glare as she leaves, my fists in balls at my sides. Man I can't stand her, always getting that judging feeling from her. If she doesn't take this seriously we are all going to be sorry.


	94. Chapter 94

**Hey guys, I'm back. I managed to update faster than I thought, but I may be too busy to start typing the next chapter, so thanks for your patience when I go MIA for a bit. I'm not all that confident with this chapter, but I wanted to do my best to get another chapter up for you guys.**

 **I do not own PLL, belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **Hope you enjoy, and thanks to everyone who is still keeping up after being gone for those long months. I so appreciate your dedication.**

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I ride my skateboard to school, I'm so late though as I rush my pace. I'm only half paying attention when I see a garbage can roll into the middle of the street when I'm almost there. So I have to jumped over it at the last second, having to avoid a person crossing the street it at the same time. I literally just missed this person, maneuvering around them and got a good mouthful of them cursing at me.

"Sorry!" I yell over my shoulder as I keep going.

I finally skid to a stop in front of the building, kicking my board to my hands. I stare around, no one in sight, which means I'm beyond late. Like twenty minutes late at least. This morning I thought I snoozed my alarm, but it turned out that I accidently turned it off instead, only being waken up by Aria calling me to see where I was. My heart came out of my chest when I noticed my lateness and bolted around the house trying to get ready.

I climb up the steps two at a time, slowly opening the door to make sure no teachers were lingering in the hall. When I see that everything seems to be clear I speed walk over to my locker, opening it as quietly as I can and exchange what I need in and out of my backpack.

I was almost positive I was in the clear, until I hear my name being said from behind me. I half jump from the voice scaring the hell out of me, making me turn so fast that I hit my shoulder into my locker.

"Ah, fuck." my heart sinks, "Principal Hackett."

He raises an eyebrow, as if wondering what I'm up to. "Sneaking around, Miss Brant?"

I gulp a little since he's been being a hard ass with me because of my attitude for a while. I'm pretty sure I gave him a run for him money when I was going through my rebelled stage since my parents. Then I smile, closing my locker as calmly as I can and stare up at him when he walked closer.

"Um...no, I'm late."

"You're a little more than late."

I half smile, "I know, my alarm didn't go off."

He nods, giving me a mixed between wanting to yell, yet sympathetic. "How have you been?" he watches me for a few long seconds, "Since...the girls have been back and…" he trails away.

"Since I lost my memory?" I add without really hesitating about it, a little fed up with everyone asking what I still can't figure out. "I'm great."

He grinds his teeth a little, as if feeling uncomfortable now. "I'm going to give you a late pass."

"But it's way past late to get a pass." He gives me a look, as if warning not to argue and I bite my lip to shut up. "I mean, thanks."

It turns out that his random moment of niceness wasn't just because of what I've been going through with the girls, but it was also because of what he found out about Amber and the other's ambushing me. Apparently Toby told him about it and went into a long process of telling him a story that I've been getting picked on for two years by Amber's gang and he was disappointed that nothing had been done. Now if Hackett doesn't do something about it, Toby threats to take legal actions. Can he actually do that?

When lunch time rolled in I walk into the caf and see the girls waving me over, including Alison. I still can't stand being around her, but after what happened at the gallery, I wasn't going to be mean about things anymore. Or at least, I'm going to try not to. I'm sure there's going to be a hell lot of other things to set me off with Charles still tormenting everyone, and them still having their what I'm sure is going to be urges to finish this game once and for all.

For a second I hesitate, looking over at the table with Noel, who is sitting with Mike and Andrew. I told them that I'd sit there today, but honestly I've kind of been avoiding the girl's table for a while and I know I need to stop at some point. So I take a breath, giving a "give me a second" finger and tell the boys that I'll sit with them tomorrow. Andrew was not happy, still being ticked off about Aria throwing him under the bus, but he nods and smiles anyway. Then I walk over and sit down beside Spencer, giving a slight smile of a hello. They all seem a little out of it and I can't say I blame them. The gallery freaked us all out. But I got this vibe that there was more to it.

"You okay?" I ask as I stuff a nugget into my mouth.

They all stare at each other for a few seconds, then stare at their food. Silence for a good minute before Hanna finally said, "Hackett made the final decision not to let us go to prom."

I drop my nugget and it splatters into the ketchup, "You're joking."

They all shake their heads, eyeing their foods still. "It gets worse." Spencer speaks now, "We aren't allowed to walk at graduation either."

"What?!" I yell loud enough to not only make them jump, but for half the lunchroom to get quiet and look this way. My face turns super red when I notice and slump down a little to get unnoticed. "That's not fair." I whisper, "What's the point in that."

"Safety." they all say.

"You guys are too much in danger with us around, and we are too much of a pain." Emily adds.

"I am not in danger with you around." The looks on their faces when they finally looked made me know that they thought different, and I was obviously a liar to say that. But I ignore their gazes, "And you are not a pain. _You're_ in danger and they are taking it out on you."

This convo got me nowhere, but they managed to tell me the plan that their moms came up with. Apparently they are having their own prom going on in Spencer's loft. Why? Because their parents wanted them to be able to have some kind of special thing for the school board doing what it's doing. Even though all of their moms agree that they rather have them close by than at a school where Charles could do something else to hurt them.

I offered to go to their get together, not feeling like it was fair for me to go to prom. But they begged and pleaded with me that I needed to go, that I needed to have fun on something I'd never get back in my last year of high school. Friends I'd probably never see again in an atmosphere like that, being with Noel who they thought wouldn't even come to Spencer's if I asked.

Eventually I gave in, telling them I'd go because they asked me to. But I still hated the idea of going to another party that I wasn't even going to enjoy anyway. From my lack of hating dances in general to knowing that my friends are band and miserable because the school board is paranoid.

A few days pass, tonight is prom, and I'm sitting behind the counter at the store after school. I have my elbows on the table, staring down at my math homework. Like always, this is like a totally different language to me. School's almost over and I have to still worry about a subject that doesn't make sense in my brain even if my life depended on it.

I bang my head onto the counter, "This is ridiculous."

The ding of the bell to the door comes, making me look up. Noel is heading down the aisle, coming this way with a bright smile on his face. Andrew and Mike behind him, which confuses me.

I raise any eyebrow, confusion most likely all over my face. "What are you guys doing?"

"You are taking a break." Mike says with a bright smile on his face, standing beside Noel when they got closer.

"What?" my eyebrows somehow going up higher in confusion.

"You've been stressing yourself out all week. You need to close up and play basketball with us." Andrew says, a smile on his face as well as he crosses his arms over his chest the way he always does when he's making a point.

Noel has his basketball under his arm, "Come on babe, I've barely seen you since the night of the gallery incident when you showed up at my place freaked out."

I shift my eyes, scanning around a bit. "The store is open for another two hours."

"Oh, please." Mike says, grabbing my homework away and walks around to be behind the counter. "You are the manager, you can do whatever the hell you want." he grabs my backpack and puts my stuff away for me.

I watch them all for a few seconds in silence, "Do you think it's a good idea to get all sweaty before prom?" I look at all of them, "I don't think Mona is going to be happy that you are going to look like you're ready to pass out."

Mike laughs, shaking his head. He was asked out by Mona since he's not a senior to go with her. Andrew managed to snag himself a date too, since he originally planned on going with Aria, but you know what happened there. Then of course, Noel is my date. He's going to look so good tonight, like always.

"Chill, Jessie." Mike tells me, "Mona will understand that we were trying to cheer you up."

I roll my eyes, setting my hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine. I give. I'll close up and hang out with you guys."

They all give me a smile, which makes me not able to stop as I smile back. I blush a little, mostly because I can't get used to the fact that these boys care so much about me. Mike is practically my brother, so that's understandable. Andrew is my best guy friend, so again, that shouldn't be anything new. But I think what continues to surprise me even though it shouldn't, is Noel. Yes, he's my boyfriend so obviously he's going to care, but sometimes it still feels like a dream that Noel Kahn chose me. _Me_ , out of every girl in town. The most popular boy in school chose the dorkiest popular girl in school.

Finally Mike grabs my arm, forcing me to my feet. "Close up, lets go."

"Us against them?" I point to myself and Mike.

He smiles, "Duh."

"You two are going down." Andrew says with a smirk.

Noel tosses the ball to me, "Don't worry, I'll kiss away the shame when you lose."

I catch the ball, shaking my head as I get around to him. "Don't be cocky." I shove the ball into his stomach, making him hunch over a bit from the force. "Or you'll be going to the prom by yourself."

His smile fades, and he gulps. The other two boys are laughing behind us as my serious face turns into a smile.

I stare up at him, getting onto my toes and bringing him down to me. I kiss him on the lips gently, "Just kidding."

He takes a breath, rubbing my face with his thumb. "I love you."

I blush harder, "I love you too." Then take a breath, and walk away. "Please do me a favor and help me lock up."


	95. Chapter 95

**Hey guys. I've decided to rewrite and reupload this chapter. I wasn't very satisfied with the way I wrote it last time. So for whoever has read this already, thanks for rereading it. For whoever hasn't gotten to this chapter, welcome.**

 **Lemmie know what you all think and I'm gonna try my hardest to get to the next one as soon as I can. I know I'm behind on the this story, and that I should be focused on the chapter for the prom and A's reveal. But I'm stumped on ideas for Jessie. Bear with me! I'm sorry.**

 **I do not own PLL. All credit to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

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So, prom. Yeah, why did I bother deciding to come to this thing. What's such a big deal about getting dolled up and in my case, being annoyed that I have to be in a dress for four hours. Ugh, shoot me now. At this rate I'm about to call Noel and tell him I changed my mind, but I know it would kill him for me not to be there. So I'm going to suck it up.

In my attempts not to bail after playing basketball with the boys I head back to my place to get ready. The girls (minus Alison) end up coming by to see me in my dress. But just before I walk out, Aria helps me with my hair and makeup, which I so did not plan on wearing. But I go for it because prom just seems like the place to overdo things. Why not? Is what I thought after being begged into it by my best friend.

Now once I finally walk out of my room, their faces all light up and it makes me slightly nervous.

"Oh, Jessie!" Hanna practically shouts so loud that I jump out my skin for a second, not expecting it. "You look beautiful."

My face burns up from the complement, shifting my eyes to the side to keep from having to stare at everyone. My embarrassment seeping through as I stare into a near by mirror. My hair is straightened, my glasses actually look good with the makeup Aria did for me. And yet somehow matches my tealed color one-strap dress that reaches the floor. I had to buy heels this time, because my height did not complement the dragging as I walked. Yay me. Feel the sarcasm behind that "excitement".

"Thanks, Hanna." I get out in a high pitched voice without meaning to.

Spencer gets to her feet, setting her hands to my arms and rubs them in an attempt to calm me. "You're going to make all the other girls jealous as hell."

"Spence, stooop." I whine, my face burning up now. This makes everyone laugh.

"She's not wrong." Emily adds as she nods, "You're a knockout."

"Em, cool it on the flirting. She's taken." Hanna jokes, nudging her best friend with her elbow. Which in response Emily gives a huge eye roll and I can't help but laugh.

"Thanks, guys. I appreciate the feedback."

They all smile at me, seeming to take them a few more seconds to relax from the outburst of seeing me. This makes my face turn more red as I switch my gaze off to the TV in the living room. Then I sigh, feeling a little overwhelmed now. Which seems to get their attention as Spencer sets her hands in mine after a second of silence and squeezes them in hers. My eyes go straight to them and then to her eyes.

She gives me a soft smile, seeming to be worried. "It's just prom, Jessie. Few hours of fun and then you'll be back home. Don't freak."

I half laugh, shaking my head. "It's not just that."

"Then what is it?" Aria gets in now, standing beside Spencer so she's facing me.

I turn my gaze in turn to each of the girls, half smiling. "I just wish you guys could go."

They give me a sad smile, nodding slightly. "We would if we could." Emily says, her eyes seeming to drift off a little.

Spencer gives my hand another squeeze, and it has me look at her. "You don't have to go to Rosewood High for your prom if you don't want to."

"Yeah." Hanna bursts out in excitement all of a sudden, making us all look at her. "Join us. Everyone's going to be at Spencer's anyway."

I half smile, shaking my head. "What about Noel? I can't just bail."

They all stare at each other for a few seconds, then seem to come to a mutual decision. "Bring him." Spencer says, "You can bring him too."

My eyebrows shoot up in shock, they still have a problem with him till this day. Like they don't trust him, and he doesn't trust them. But they've been trying to keep their peace for my sake.

I smile, giving them all a look like I appreciated their efforts. "That's really nice of you guys. Truly."

"But?" Spencer asks, getting my attention back to her.

I lick my lips, feeling bad. "It's prom."

They all give a soft smile, nodding in agreement. Their minds and expressions look like they are working at different emotions. Like their faces seem to be sad that I wouldn't join their party, but the nodding in agreement makes me know that they think it's a good idea for me to go to the school.

"Just have fun, okay?" Aria says, giving my arm a rub in comfort.

I smile and hug her, "I will. I'll even give you guys a FaceTime so you can check it out."

...

As soon as everything dies down and the girls leave, I find myself hanging in the house alone. I'm sitting on the sofa staring at everything surrounding me. My mind kind of lost for a bit. The girls took off to go home, needing to get ready for their "not so prom" time together. But slowly realizing that they aren't coming to the actual prom slightly leaves me upset again. Because I got so used to them being around.

After a long time processing my thoughts I'm walking out of my apartment about an hour later to get picked up by Noel. My eyes instantly turn and stare towards Ezra's place as they connect to his building when I get in front of the store. He got invited to Spencer's place for their get together. As did the rest of their boyfriend's. Even Toby's partner Lorenzo got invited because he's been into Alison for a while. Do I know if he went? No, because Ali did her usual manipulative thing that got him into trouble for his job. So there's a good possibility that he passed on that offer.

I stare back towards Noel's car, half distracted that I'm not with my friends. Yet I'm also half okay with not having to worry about being around their drama for once. Because if they were at prom everything would be absorbed around them being kept safe with cop escorts.

The quietness on the streets is kind of relaxing. It's always so busy during the day that it feels weird when everything is so still. It feels nice, normal. Like I'm actually just a regular kid heading to prom with my boyfriend. A regular kid who has a regular life with regular friends. However, I know better. I know that none of that is true. My friends aren't regular, I'm not regular. But tonight I will be. I won't be the girl everyone looks at because I got hurt again from my friend's messes because of my stupidity to help. I'll be Jessie Brant, girlfriend to the most popular boy at school, Noel Kahn. I'll be the girl who has the best three point shots for the last three years…well, two technically. I will not let anyone downgrade me as a loser, because I'm not.

"Hey, beautiful." Noel's voice echoes into my ears, "We're late for the ball."

I smile at him, hopping into the car and end up in a liplock with my boyfriend for a good two minutes before he pulls away. This makes me blush, "I thought we were late?"

He laughs, kissing me once again. "Who cares, I just wanted my amazing girlfriend in my presence faster." He smiles, kissing my cheek.

I laugh, turning red again. "Smooth, oh so smooth."

He shrugs, giving me his million dollar Kahn smile. "It takes practice, babe."

I smile and shake my head, giving him a light smack to the arm. "You are pure bullshit, Noel Kahn."

He softly smiles, putting his car in drive. "And you are the the most beautiful girl in Rosewood, Jessie Brant.

...

With my arm looped through Noel's arm we both walk into the school, heading off towards the room where they always have the dances. As soon as we head through the door my mouth drops, the place is transformed into a theme. What else is new. Can't anything be simple?

I look around the room, seeing that the entire atmosphere is a vibe of a forest. The lighting is dimmed to almost complete darkness as it makes it seem like it's just the moon shining down on us. The people handing out drinks and food dressed like they are wolves. Interesting thought for a prom I must say. But I think we could have done for a less dramatic dance.

"Whatcha think?" Noel asks, staring down at me when we walk over to a corner of the room to see if we can spot any of our friends.

I stare around a little more, very much speechless. "I'm not sure yet. But it's definitely different."

He smiles, kissing my cheek. Then he watches me for a few long seconds. "You wish they were here don't you? The girls."

I half smile, shrugging a but. "Both actually."

He raises an eyebrow, a curious look on his face. "Why both?"

I take a breath, rubbing my thumb on his as we hold hands. "I just like having my friends around. But…" I stop for a second, "I also feel like if they were here, then it would all be about them. Like it always is." I give a shake to my head, "I know it sounds horrible."

Despite all the loudness to the music I can hear him laugh. He pulls my arm so I'm wrapped in his arms facing him and I stare up at his eyes. "You have every right to feel that way, Jessie. They've put you through a lot. You deserve a night to yourself. No bullshit from them."

Before I can answer that there's a loud voice yelling Noel's name, making us both turn our heads to the sound. There's Sean with his girlfriend, Piper, Mike right behind them. For some reason there's no Mona, which totally confuses me. Mona is not the type to be late and if she is here, she wouldn't pass up not being with her boyfriend. She'd strut around with herself on his arm the whole night, making a point that she has him.

Noel's smile brightens as he gives a bro like hug to both Mike and Sean, leaning in for a proper hug with Piper. "You guys just get here?" he asks them, leaning against the wall as I give Mike a hug.

"Got here about ten minutes ago." Sean tells him.

While they talk I chat with Mike. He looks so handsome tonight. The little kid I grew up with looks so much like a man that is creeps me out. And he seems to notice the look on my face as he laughs. "Don't."

I stare up, my eyes connecting with his. "Don't what?"

"Don't make a big deal on how 'grown up' I look. Because I know you, Jessie."

I slightly laugh, shaking my head. "I won't. I won't." I watch him for a few seconds and go with instead. "Where's Mona?"

He goes on to tell me that she had something to do for her mom and is running a little late. I don't know if I buy this, knowing that Charles is still out there and she is probably on another A trial, but I rather not scare him.

"So all by yourself till she gets here then."

He nods, smoothing out his tux. "Guess so."

I slightly laugh, searching around the room for a second. I feel so out of place here, what was I thinking. "So…" I stare back at him, "How was Ria when you left? Did you see her?"

He gives me a smile, nodding. The look in his eyes mixed, "She seemed upset for sure. But I think she was just more excited to make fun of her little brother for wearing a tuxedo."

I press my lips together, holding back a laugh. It is very unusual to see Mike all proper and dressed nice. It's rare, but I think it's a nice change. "You do look handsome though, Mikey."

Now it's his turn to get all red, his eyes shifting away from me and he goes shy.

This makes me laugh and I open my mouth to say more, but then a slow song pops on and Noel's arms go around my waist from behind me. His chin ends up on my shoulder just as Sean grabs hold of Piper and pulls her onto the dance floor.

"Dance with me?" Noel whispers into my ear, his breath giving me goosebumps.

"Already?" I half whine, half smile at the cute look on his face.

He kisses my cheek, "Yes please. I want everyone to see my beautiful girlfriend."

I softly groan, my face turning red again. Why can't I control my inability to keep myself from constantly blushing. But I smile at him and nod slowly, "Fine. But only because you're too cute to resist saying no to."

He laughs, twirling me in my spot. "You're adorable, Jessie."

"I'll disagree with that, because you're more adorable than me."

"Oh stop." he laughs, grabbing both my hands and pulls me to the dance floor just as Mike yells that I owe him a dance. "We are going to rock this prom, babe."

I laugh, my smile wider than it's been in a while and wrap my arms around his neck as he sets his hands to my back. We both sway softly to the gentle tone of the music, his forehead setting to mine and he smiles down at me. God, what did I do to deserve having this man in my life? To finally have that normalcy I've been hoping for since the car accident?

But I can't help but feel like it's all going to crumble down on me. Because it's Rosewood, and I'm me. My life hasn't been normal in years. What could possibly happen to make my stomach ache in that way it always does when I have a bad feeling something is about to happen?


	96. Chapter 96

**Okay! Hello everyone. I know I once again disappeared. I'm sorry about that. I'm just so not in the mood to write anymore that I lost the** **inspiration and dedication to continue this. But I finally got back to it today and whipped this up. Hopefully it's decent for the amount of time I spent leaving you all hanging. I'm thinking that either the next chapter or the one after will be the last chapter(s) to this story. Till then enjoy this one, and I'll do everything in my power to not get writers block to continue. No promises though!**

 **I DO NOT own PLL. Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

 **PS - who is excited for the new show coming out on Freeform called The Protectionists? It's no PLL but it's involving Ali and Mona in some way so it shouldn't be too bad of a show right? Especially with Janel and Sasha being part of it!**

* * *

It felt like forever that we had been at the school, dancing and hanging out. To the point where I'm actually slightly getting more and more exhausted as the time passes, but I won't be the one to call it a night knowing that my date and friends are still energized. So I continue to do my best to keep up, smiling and laughing, keeping my mind off of the fact that the girls are probably miserable at Spencer's while Charles still lurks and waits for his move. The thought freaks me out a bit as I shiver and turn my head side to side as if making sure he isn't around to take me again. That's when my attention gets caught in the middle of an upbeat song with Noel and Piper, the others going to grab some drinks.

What catches my attention? It's Mona, she finally showed up. I hadn't seen her all night and Mike was worried about her the whole time. But he made me promise not to sit with him while he moped around and to have fun instead. So I did my best. Now though, here she is dressed in a Little Red Riding Hood type of outfit, walking around the dance floor like nothing is going on. But I know better. Mona isn't the type to not have a plan up her sleeve. So after a few seconds of hesitation, I tell Piper and Noel I'll be right back and stomp towards her, slightly fumed.

"Mona!" I yell through the crowd, slipping between them as I walk past dancing groups. "Mona!"

I get a glimpse of her short height turning this way, her eyes wide when she sees me. She seems confused and shocked at the same time. "Oh, Jessie, hey."

"Where the hell have you been? Mike's been worried sick."

Her eyebrows go up, a slight smile slipping on her face. Her eyes search for a second before going back to me, that's when the same sly smile she always gives while amused slides on instead. "Are you really worried that Mike is upset or are you trying to figure out why I'm late?"

I blink, watching her for a few long seconds. It always amazes me how she can read people, and it scares me how she can still have that same attitude she did last year while being _A_. It's as if she hasn't changed a bit, even though we all have after this hell of a life we've managed to get into. "Both actually." I finally pipe up. "So where have you been?"

She presses her lips together, her eyes scanning. "Charles is here somewhere."

My heart sinks, turning my head to her words. "What? How do you know?" my eyes scan as well till they land on a girl who is giving me a death stare, blinking slowly in alarm at her. This girl named Bridget Wu, who seems to be drunk and has her dress on backwards, has had a crush on Noel forever. It looks like she wants to deck me right in the face from most likely not having him as her date.

"Because I've been following Alison since she left her house today and this is where she ended up. I think she got a text from her dear old brother."

I blink at her words and stare away from Bridget, my eyes back on her. "Wait...so after your mom put so much effort to get you to be allowed to come to prom with Mike, instead of being banned from it, you decided to play detective and bail on him?"

Her eyes slightly go sad, sighing. "I know. I'm sorry, Jessie. But we need to figure out who Charles is. I'm tired of being afraid for my life."

I take a soft breath, nodding. "Mona, I get it. But let the cops do their jobs and go see Mike."

Mona opens her mouth to what I'll assume is protest when her eyes scan over my head, making me turn. The girls just walked into Prom. "Oh for fuck's sake." I turn back to Mona, "If the staff finds out what's going on they are going to have a cow."

She half laughs, shaking her head. "I know. But I need to do this. Help me find Ali and I'll do the rest."

I watch her for a second, seeing how serious she is. "But…"

"Jessie, please?" she begs, seeming desperate.

I stare at her for a long while, gulping softly. My eyes look over my shoulder, seeing Noel and my friends having a great time. But Noel's head seems to keep looking around as if looking for me. Then I stare back at her and nod, "Alright. Alright. Fine. I'll help you find her, but then I'm done. You can go ambush Charles on your own."

She takes a breath, nodding in agreement. "You are the best."

I roll my eyes a bit, "What do you need me to do?"

"Act normal. Go back to Noel and just keep an eye out for Alison. Once you spot her, text me."

I take a relieved breath that I don't have to do more. "I can do that."

Mona smiles and nods, "I won't let you get deep into this again. I won't let you get hurt. I promise."

Promises are always the worst, especially in a situation that involves _A_. But I just nod and head back to my friends, wrapping my arms around Noel from behind. I just try to act like nothing is wrong as I apologize for taking so long because I saw Mona, who was looking for Mike. Then just continue to have as good of a time as I can while eyeing around the dance floor for Alison.

After a long amount of time between interaction with Mona and now, I finally spot her. Ali is standing by the girls, who ended up ambushing her into a corner. Most likely needing answers as Spencer is the one who is up in her face, nothing unusual. So I grab my phone, pulling up Mona's number and let her know where Ali is.

"You okay?" Noel asks me, his arms wrapping around my middle and holds my back to pull me close to him. He kisses my forehead and I smile. "You seem distracted."

I laugh a bit, even when I'm trying to be me and have fun he still manages to notice when I'm out of it. "Just the usual."

"The girls?"

I smile softly and nod over to where they are, "Seems like they snuck into our lovely dance."

His eyes scan over towards where I aimed at and sees my friends, even the boys came. That's when Alison bolts out of their presence and disappears into the crowd. "Something is going on again isn't it?"

I look away from them and stare up at him, shaking my head. "Doesn't matter. I'm not getting involved. I just want to be with you, with everyone here who isn't in the mix of this Charles fiasco and seem like I'm actually a normal girl for a change."

He laughs softly and kisses my head once again, moving our bodies to the music as he sways us to a slow song. I can't help but feel in awe, like I matter in this town for a change. That I'm for once not the one everyone is looking at because I got into trouble with the girls again. That I'm not being stared at as 'the kid who lost her family'.

...

I'm running around in the 'woods' of our Prom, my head pounding in a headache. Something isn't right. Something is terribly wrong I can feel it. Toby just found me to let me know that the girls took off without a word (nothing new) and that he has no idea where they could have went. So I'm following him as we search the dance floor, and then head outside into the parking lot. I told Noel that I'd meet with him later on when I could, not to worry about me. But we all know that he is nothing but a worrier when it comes to me and this situation.

Once we get outside, my head and body turn to see if there is any sign of them. Alison had went missing, most likely taken by Charles since that's who she came to meet and now even Mona seems to be gone. No one is answering their phones either and it's just another disaster of a day ruined by my friends.

"Did Mona have a plan for when she found Alison?" He asks me as we wait for the others to me us out here, shaking my head. This is way too much to handle on a day that is supposed to be priceless.

"No. Just that she needed me to keep an eye out and text her." I stare at him, "Do you think they were stupid enough to follow Mona if she figured out where Charles took her?"

He raises an eyebrow at me as if that was a stupid question, which of course it was. I know as much as him that they definitely went after Alison and Charles if Mona found where they were. "Wouldn't put it past them."

I sigh and nod, completely scared. Charles had them not so long ago for over a month, trapped and away from the world and they are just handing themselves over to him. Basically right into his hands, trapping themselves all over again. They never learn and that's what hurts me when it comes to staying their friend.

"Toby. We need to find them. I can't go through this again, losing Aria and Spencer to him. We have no idea what that man plans to do with Alison and they are just willingly putting themselves in harms way again."

He stares down at me, clearly hearing the fear in my voice. "We'll find them." He sets his hand to my shoulder, "Don't worry."

That's when sirens hit my ears, turning to where they came from. Lieutenant Tanner hops out of her car just as the guy who we thought was hitting on Aria while at Hollis named Clark comes out with Ezra and Lorenzo. I turns out that Clark is an undercover cop. Go figure.

"All we found was Alison's phone." he hands it to her, "It was left in the maze as if someone took her. A mirror broken nearby."

More sirens, this time it's going away from the school. All of our heads aim towards the sound, Clark and Tanner both jumping into the car as Officer Barry's voice pops onto their radios. "Suspicious activity at Radley Sanitarium."

My eyes slowly look at Ezra and Toby, Caleb finally joining us. "It always leads back to Radley."


	97. Chapter 97

**Hey everyone. I'm back again with another chapter. Quicker than I thought for sure. But posting the other day seemed to spark my ideas again. I planned on making two more chapters instead of one, but I managed to fit everything I wanted into one. So hopefully I remembered every point made in the last episodes of that season when they were still teens and didn't miss anything important. Because this is the last chapter to this story. Thanks to you all for sticking with me even when I went missing from updating for months at a time. I so appreciate it.** **As for anyone wondering if I plan to write for the flash forward. I'm not sure just yet. Maybe. But I can't promise that.**

 **I of course do not own Pretty Little Liars. This belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.**

* * *

Once the call came over the radio, Tanner and Clark take off, myself and the boys jumping into Ezra's car, while Lorenzo hops into his own and we race off towards Radley. We figured that the girls had to be there too. It would make the most sense at this point wouldn't it? Mona and Spencer both had gotten put into that looney bin one way or another, maybe it was a significant reason for Charles to end up having them there too. Of course, there's only one way to find out.

When we pull up to the building it's a sight to see, alarming even. The cops have the front of the building guarded, all looking upward with their guns out. I stare out the back window of the car, trying to see myself. But I don't notice what they are staring at until I get out and look closer. _A_ , or well, Charles should I say, is in full _A_ clothing of black with the hood up. I still can't see his face since it's dark outside, and me standing all the way down here doesn't help either. But we hear voices, the girls screaming as Charles is in suicide mode and about to jump. It sounds like they are pleading with him, which totally confuses me after all he's put everyone through.

"This is nuts." I blurt out, staring at the boys for a split second before my attention ends up back to the ledge Charles is standing on.

"Maybe we can get inside and grab the girls before anything else happens." Caleb says, his gaze looking for an entrance.

Toby shakes his head, "Not a chance in hell would Rosewood PD allow any of us to walk into that building during a threat like this."

My mouth opens up, taking a shaky breath. I have no words that come out as my brain seems to break down for a second. My eyes glued to the man ready to jump. Then all of a sudden it seems like he just changes his mind, disappearing from our view and ends up back onto the ground of the roof the girls are standing on. I cran my neck more upward towards the roof as if this is going to magically make me taller, but I obviously can't see anything else. All I can hear is their fading voices as they go more silent. But it's noticeable that they are still up there. That's when the cops storm the shut down building and rush inside.

"Come on." I say as I go to take a step to follow them, to make sure the girls are okay. But Ezra grabs me and instead, holding firmly onto my elbow as Toby and Lorenzo follow inside instead.

I feel his hand grab hold of me and I struggle against it, begging for him to let me go for a few long seconds before I give up and lean against him instead. My eyes are glued to the building, waiting patiently for someone, anyone to come out and tell me what's happening. How the hell did the girls know to come here? What did Charles do to make them come back to the worst place in Rosewood?

As my brain thinks of all the questions that need answers my thoughts are quickly distracted when a cop walks out of the doors, gripping onto an arm of a girl in handcuffs. She has blond hair and the _A_ clothing. For a split second I think it's Alison and I blink in confusion as I watch the woman cop come closer with this other person.

That's when my face goes pale. Because the person who came out with the cop is, "C-CeCe?"

I feel my headache get worse as she smiles at me. A cold smile. An evil smile. Not a happy and chipper one she used to give. No. It looks...insane. "Oh look who's here. Jessie the screw up. I knew I should have let you die."

My face drops, blinking slowly at her comment. That's when my mind flashes and my memories all of a sudden swarm me all at once. Memories I didn't remember till now, in this very moment. It's everything that happened before the seizure made me forget. How I was in that car accident the day of the trial, the day the girls were taken to jail. How I was kept in what looked like a basement for days, forced to watch the girls kidnapped by _A_ on screens of computers. Tied to the pole of a staircase and gagged, tortured to make a point for the girls to listen, to Noel who was involved somehow. Then seeing CeCe's face when I started to seize up from all the shocks of the taser, feeling a needle stick into my leg when CeCe revealed herself as _A_ to save me.

"N-No..."

She laughs while the cop forcing her into the back of the cop car. "You losing your memory was the best thing that could have happened to my plans. It was perfect." the cop slams the door and she just eyes me.

I start to shake and Ezra pulls me away, forcing me to stare at him and not her. "What did she mean?"

"I-I saw her...sh-she was the one who took me after the accident. The seizure made me forget." I shake my head in frustration, "I could have identified her months ago!"

He pulls me into a hug, mumbling to myself how she could be _A_ if _A_ is Charles. Charles isn't CeCe. can't be. What is happening. But he just rubs my back in comfort instead, trying to relax me. "It's okay, Jessie. Breathe. There's an explanation to all of this. We'll find it."

I shake my head, confused and defeated. That's when the girls come out, my cheek snuggled deeply into Ezra's chest as I hugged him. The confused looks on their faces as they get to us only makes it worse as he tells them not to ask for now.

"What happened?" he asks them instead to get the focus off me, still holding onto me as my eyes shift away from them. Even though I'm not looking at them, I'm very aware of their gazes on me. But then they start to talk and I try my best to listen.

Long story short, CeCe is Charles, before Charles transitioned himself into a girl. Charles who turned into Charlotte, who turned into CeCe as a cover up was in Radley starting from a young age until she escaped right after Mona went there from her _A_ episode. This all confuses me more, shaking my head to grasp it. There is so much more to the story but I can't handle hearing more as we are all taken to the police station to give statements. Which means my newly restored memories will be helpful to keep her locked up just as much as all the other evidence against her. The only problem with me remembering though is that I now know what happened while in that place I was taken to, and it's the worst feeling to relive it in my mind.

...

Weeks pass, school is now over and we are all somewhat back to normal. _A_ /Charles/Charlotte/CeCe went on trial and was sentenced to another facility for "special" cases for basically the rest of her life. So as of now she is out of our lives and is back where she belongs. As long as she doesn't break out of this institution and come back to haunt us my life is pretty great. No more worries besides my own nightmares, but I've managed to work on it and not let them get to me as much as I once did. With the help and support of the people closest to me, I feel awesome.

Since CeCe was caught, the girls were allowed to walk at our graduation, and Spencer was able to give her valedictorian speech. Which I'll add was definitely a moving one. There was a lot of emotion, and I for one was actually sad to know that I was leaving high school when I barely had the experience I should have had here for two years. But the good news for me and us all is that we finally are able to live normal lives again and will be able to start over in college.

Speaking of college. I decided to go to Hollis as an art major instead of going to Kean. Thanks to my art teacher she sent my stuff in and they gave me a scholarship. So that was the icing on the cake to choose Hollis based off of an scholarship compared to Kean that was just an acceptance letter. The dream was to go pro, but this high school experience of mine didn't make it very possible. However, I am very happy with my choice despite not being closer to my parent's family. Kean was the best option for it. But being at Hollis also means I can keep up with the store as well and not have to worry. Not to mention the Montgomery's are here too. I think my parents would be proud. I hope they would be.

More good news? I finally decided that I did need some help with the store after all. So who else to do that than my own boyfriend? I hired him as my manager, and hired some under-classmen as floor employees. At least I know when I'm not there Noel is keeping them in check. Or at least for the summer that is. Noel got accepted to a college in Philadelphia. He'll be dorming.

Summer came and went very quickly. Trying my best to live a life outside of drama and my job. I let the store live without me at least three days a week and allowed Noel to keep it intact for the rest. He said I "needed a vacation" which he wasn't wrong about. I certainly needed a break because of the chaos of two years with _A_. So a couple weeks into the beginning of summer sometime after the arrangement to let him take over more, I left my precious store in his hands. He talked me into heading back to Jersey to stay with my family. I had been going through so much that I kind of drifted apart from them again, minus Bobby of course because he's still living in Rosewood with his girlfriend.

After those two weeks away I came back and spent a lot of time trying to reconnect with friends I lost through my battles of _A_ , through my battles of losing myself during school, during my sports. Aria and everyone else kind of let me have my space, seeing them at the Brew most of the time when need be. At least till the end of the summer, because we are all going our separate ways for college. Well, everyone except for...you guessed it, Ali. Me and her are both staying in Rosewood and going to Hollis. Go figure.

On the last couple of weeks before the four girls needed to head off to college, we spent almost every waking moment together. Girl time at Spencer's. Sleepovers at my place. Amusement parks, trips to Manhattan. You name it we did it. We had to after all we'd been through. It felt like we lost touch even when we were together from all that madness. Like the only reason we were so close was because of _A_. Which in my case, not including Aria and Spencer, was true. Not to mention that this was the last time we would really be around each other fully till they come back for their mini vacations in between the school year. And who knows if we would still be as close as ever. People grow up, there's no guarantees.

My tolerance with Ali was iffy every time we got together. Doesn't matter that she's not the same girl before she disappeared, there's just always been a warning in the back of my mind not to totally trust her. But when it comes me and Mona, we patched things up. Despite that she was crazy, she was actually a nice person compared to Alison and I'd give being her friend over the Queen Bee any day.

"You ready to go?" I ask Aria as I help her get her last minute things inside her car.

Today is the day that she's leaving, and the thought hurts like hell. My best friend is leaving and I don't know how to process that at the moment. I know this isn't as bad as her leaving the country or me being in New Jersey to the point we barely saw each other for years. But this isn't an easy transition either. So I'm holding it together as much as possible while Aunt Ella, Uncle Byron and Mike stand strong on the porch and watch us. Her parents are allowing her to drive to to her brand new school all on her own. All the girls are.

Aria smiles as she gives a sad look, staring at her home for the last time till she's back for Thanksgiving. It may seem silly to be so upset when we'll see her in a couple months, but this is the first time she'll be fully on her own and away from her family. It's a new experience for them. Even for me to know she's basically out there on her own.

She had already said bye to her parents and Mike earlier, so she gives them a wave and smile. Then she stares at me and nods, "No. But I can't turn back now."

I smile softly and get into the front seat with her. I'm going with her to see the girls, who are all waiting at Alison's house for their final goodbyes. Seeing Spencer go is another battle.

"You're gonna do great, Ria. You've been waiting forever to be rid of this town."

She smiles sadly, turning on her car. "Doesn't make it any easier leaving you behind in this messed up place though. They still look at us like we are contagious or something."

I laugh softly, nudging her arm. "It's Rosewood. What are you expecting?"

Aria just smiles again, taking a breath as she once again waves at her parents and stares at her house. She told me that she basically gave an earful to Toby and Mike to watch me, knowing that Ezra decided to head off to Thailand for the summer to help people in need and Caleb is off to New York City with Hanna to start his new job. So it's just me and Tobs, and Alison stuck in this crazy town. The last people standing from our little "group". So I guess she's slightly worried.

Finally she puts her car in drive with a quick stare at me, "I am going to miss it here though. It may have been a long five years since Ali went missing, but this town has always been a home because of you."

I smile sadly, hugging her. "Don't get all sappy on me yet. We have more time to spend before our last goodbye."

She wipes her eyes and laughs as I pull away, "Best friends forever, right?"

I smile as she has me a bit emotional now, "Always. You're stuck with me."


End file.
